Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is considering visiting South Korea early next month for talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese government officials said Tuesday.
Kishida apparently hopes that before he steps down as prime minister, he and Yoon will confirm the importance of keeping relations between their countries on track.
Kishida is also likely to explain the Japanese government's efforts to win support for UNESCO's recent decision to register Japan's Sado Island Gold Mines as a World Cultural Heritage site.
Yoon has been under fire from South Korean opposition lawmakers for Seoul's support for the inscription of the gold mine site. Critics of the site say that people from the Korean Peninsula were forced to work there during World War II.
Kishida and Yoon are also expected to discuss ways to expand cooperation between Japan and South Korea as the two countries mark the 60th anniversary of normalization of their diplomatic ties next year.
The two leaders are also likely to confirm that Japan, the United States and South Korea will deepen their trilateral security cooperation to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threat.
Kishida last week announced that he will not to seek reelection in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership race next month, indicating that he will step down as prime minister after the LDP election.
Relations between Japan and South Korea have improved drastically since the Yoon administration in March last year announced a plan to settle claims against Japanese companies by World War II-era Korean laborers without Japanese money.
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