Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul had a meeting with Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamikawa Yoko on Friday, July 26, from 14:25 to 15:10 (local time) in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings. The two sides discussed Korea-Japan relations, as well as North Korea and the North Korean nuclear issue.

Both ministers, who held their second meeting five months after the first, appreciated the progress that the two countries have made in substantive cooperation in various fields such as security, economy, industry, and education, while maintaining close communication at all levels, including two summit meetings this year.

Both ministers agreed to continue to gather wisdom on issues of mutual interest in order to develop future-oriented bilateral relations. In particular, they decided to commence full-scale preparations for the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries next year and to identify deliverables that the peoples of both countries can actually feel.

Both ministers shared concerns about North Korea’s complex provocations and the recent closer ties between Russia and North Korea. They agreed that North Korea’s repeated violations of UN Security Council resolutions should not be tolerated. They also committed to maintaining close cooperation to send a unified message of the international community that North Korea must pursue denuclearization.

Both ministers also agreed to communicate frequently on various occasions, including multilateral diplomatic events in the second half of the year.