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President Yoon Suk-yeol of Korea (right) poses for a photo with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan to mark a bilateral summit on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in November 2022. (courtesy of the presidential office)

President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit Japan on March 16 to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. While criticisms of the “self-serving” nature of the administration’s plan for compensating victims of forced labor during the Japanese occupation of Korea refuse to die down, Yoon seems anxious to speed up diplomacy with Japan.

The presidential office announced in a press release on Thursday that Yoon and first lady Kim Keon-hee will visit Japan on March 16-17, noting the visit is “at the invitation of the Japanese government.”

Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary and spokesperson for the government, also announced the trip at a regular press conference.

Yoon’s trip to Japan was confirmed and announced three days after the government on Monday revealed its plan to compensate victims of forced labor through the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan.

The presidential office emphasized the restoration of “shuttle diplomacy” between the leaders of South Korea and Japan.

“The resumption of exchange between the leaders of our two countries after a 12-year hiatus marks an important milestone in improving and developing our bilateral relationship,” the office said. “We hope this visit to Japan will facilitate the expansion of cooperation in a range of areas, including security, the economy, society and culture, and further promote exchange between Koreans and Japanese so that our two countries can overcome their unfortunate past and move forward into the future.”

Some potential items on the summit agenda are Japan lifting its export controls on semiconductor materials and putting South Korea back on its export “whitelist,” as well as South Korea officially retracting its already suspended conditional withdrawal from its GSOMIA information-sharing agreement with Japan.

Following the summit, the two leaders are expected to issue a new proclamation about South Korea-Japan relations that will lay the groundwork for future-oriented cooperation. According to custom, Kishida would likely visit South Korea following Yoon’s visit to Japan.

It has been four months since Yoon last sat down with Kishida, in Phnom Penh last November. Prior to that, the two leaders spoke for around 30 minutes when they were both in New York for the UN General Assembly last September. But the Japanese government regarded the encounter as a brief chat, while the South Korean government characterized it as being an informal summit.

The last time a South Korean president visited Japan was four years ago, when then-President Moon Jae-in went to Osaka to attend the G20 summit in June 2019.

A high-ranking official in the presidential office left open the possibility of businesspeople from the two countries holding a conference during Yoon’s visit to Japan while noting that “we’re not at the stage yet where anything can be announced.”

The presidential office added that South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee plans to get better acquainted with Yuko Kishida, the wife of the Japanese prime minister, during the trip to Japan.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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