fumio kishida visits south korea, south koreans hold rallies to criticize yoon seok-yeol's "pro-japanese diplomacy"
2024-09-07
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[global times special correspondent han wen and zhang fei] the outgoing japanese prime minister fumio kishida started a two-day visit to south korea on the 6th. according to yonhap news agency on the 6th, south korean president yoon seok-yeol held talks with the visiting kishida fumio at the yongsan presidential palace in seoul on the same day to exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern. outside the presidential palace, south korean civic groups held a press conference to condemn the yoon seok-yeol government for engaging in "pro-japanese diplomacy."
south korean president yoon seok-yeol file photo source: visual china
yonhap news agency reported that the south korea-japan summit meeting started at 3:35 p.m., and held small-scale and large-scale talks, which lasted about 100 minutes. the two sides reached a consensus on strengthening south korea-u.s.-japan cooperation to deal with regional security threats, and also exchanged views on regional and global cooperation plans including the indo-pacific region. yonhap news agency said that next year will mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between south korea and japan, and the yoon seok-yeol government has continued to maintain the momentum of improving south korea-japan relations since taking office.
it is reported that this is the 12th meeting between yoon seok-yeol and kishida fumio, and the third meeting this year. after the meeting, yoon seok-yeol and his wife also had dinner with kishida fumio and his wife. kishida fumio announced in august that he would not participate in the party's presidential election in september, which means that he will no longer serve as japan's prime minister after the election.
however, south korean media "sisafocus" mentioned on the 6th that the south korean opposition party has a negative attitude towards the south korea-japan summit and expressed concerns. "fatherland reform party" representative cho kuk sarcastically said on the 5th that yoon seok-yeol and kishida fumio both have a low approval rating of more than 20%, and they are in the same boat. the largest opposition party in south korea, the democratic party of korea, said that if yoon seok-yeol were the president of south korea, he should make this meeting an opportunity to correct the previously tilted south korea-japan relations.
on the day of the south korea-japan summit, yonhap news agency reported that south korean civic groups held press conferences and rallies to condemn the yoon seok-yeol government's "pro-japanese diplomacy" and oppose japan's sovereignty claim over dokdo (called takeshima in japan). the hankyoreh reported on the 6th that south korean civic society groups took to the streets that day to criticize the yoon seok-yeol government for continuing to carry out "low-profile insulting diplomacy" against japan and improving south korea-japan relations in name only. a group leader said, "people are worried about what kind of humiliating agreement yoon seok-yeol will reach during fumio kishida's visit to south korea this time."
