Lee’s meeting with Ishiba is clearly intended as preparation for the summit with Trump.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo next week before flying to Washington for a summit with President Donald Trump, underscoring how Trump’s push to reset global trade is drawing the often-feuding neighbors closer.
Lee’s two-day visit to Japan Aug. 23–24 will be an opportunity to deepen personal ties with Ishiba and put bilateral relations on firmer ground. Their talks will center on strengthening trilateral cooperation with Washington, promoting “regional peace and stability,” and addressing other international issues, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said Wednesday.
Their meeting will come weeks after South Korea and Japan secured trade deals with Washington that shielded their trade-dependent economies from Trump’s highest tariffs. The separate agreements negotiated their rates of reciprocal duties down to 15% from the originally proposed 25%, but only after pledging hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. investments.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said it hopes Lee’s visit will promote the “stable development” of bilateral ties as their countries work together on international challenges. It said the two governments plan to maintain close communication, including utilizing the “shuttle diplomacy” of regular leadership summits used in the past.
After meeting Ishiba, Lee will travel to Washington for an Aug. 25 summit with Trump, which his office said will focus on trade and defense cooperation.
Relations between the two U.S. allies often have been strained in recent years over grievances stemming from Japan’s brutal colonization of the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II.
