Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is preparing to visit South Korea in the beginning of May at the earliest and meet its President Yoon Suk-yeol, it was learned Saturday.

Kishida’s envisaged visit to the Asian neighbor, his first since becoming prime minister in October 2021, will come after he and Yoon agreed at a meeting in Tokyo last month to resume “shuttle diplomacy,” or mutual visits by the two countries’ leaders.

The prime minister hopes to confirm with Yoon the two sides’ policy to cooperate in responding to North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile as well as to growing military pressure by China, government sources said.

JIJI Press