South Korean: Cheong Wa Dae said on Friday that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung would go to Japan’s Nara prefecture early next week for a two-day summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to explore measures to improve bilateral relations.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, Lee is expected to leave for Japan on Tuesday for the summit negotiations, which will take place in Takaichi’s hometown of Nara, a prefecture in Japan, according to Yonhap News Agency.

According to a statement from Cheong Wa Dae, the two leaders are anticipated to talk about a variety of regional and international concerns in addition to the economy, society, and culture.

In addition to their short meeting on the fringes of the Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in South Africa in November, Lee and Takaichi last conducted summit discussions on October 30 in Gyeongju, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation event.

Next Wednesday, Lee will meet with ethnic Koreans in Japan and attend a friendship event with Takaichi before heading back home.

After visiting Tokyo in August and holding summit discussions with Shigeru Ishiba, Takaichi’s predecessor, Lee will make his second journey to the neighboring nation.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, the forthcoming visit is anticipated to contribute to bolstering the forward-looking momentum of bilateral relations via “shuttle diplomacy,” or reciprocal visits.

According to Lee, he wants to develop Japan-Korea relations in a forward-looking way while keeping in mind long-standing historical concerns related to the period when Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945.

As tensions between Beijing and Tokyo continue to rise due to the Japanese prime minister’s comments on Taiwan, Lee and Takaichi are scheduled to meet.

The foreign ministry stated that Cho Hyun, the foreign minister of South Korea, met with the policy leader of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan on Thursday to discuss measures to improve bilateral ties and other common concerns.

According to the ministry, Cho said that bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo are improving as a result of ongoing “shuttle diplomacy,” or frequent visits by their leaders, during the discussion with Takayuki Kobayashi, chairwoman of the LDP’s Policy Research Council.

Cho expressed optimism that Kobayashi will continue to work toward strengthening ties between the two nations in a number of sectors.

In response, Kobayashi evaluated that the shuttle diplomacy has aided in the advancement of bilateral relations in a stable and future-focused way, highlighting the significance of maintaining both bilateral cooperation and the trilateral collaboration with the United States.

Since October last year, Kobayashi, a former minister of economic security, has led the LDP’s strategy. The head of the Policy Research Council, one of the most influential positions in the LDP, is in charge of the party’s policy-making process.