Japan's agricultural minister calls for Seoul to lift ban on Japanese seafood imports
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Shinjiro Koizumi exchanged views on overall bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo and ways to enhance economic cooperation, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Monday.
Cho held separate talks with Koizumi, who visited South Korea on Monday afternoon, at the Foreign Ministry building in Seoul.
“The two ministers also exchanged views on mutually interesting agenda items in the economic sector and emphasized the need for close communication between the two countries on matters of common interest and pending issues,” the Foreign Ministry said in a Korean-language statement, without sharing further details.
However, Koizumi further disclosed Monday that he and Cho “conducted a frank exchange of opinions regarding various issues between the two countries,” following the meeting on his official X account.
“I called for the lifting of import restrictions on Japanese marine products and raised the matter of the safety of Japanese food products," Koizumi said in his Japanese-language post.
“Toward the resolution of pending issues since the Great East Japan Earthquake, I will steadily build up progress one by one,” Koizumi added, referring to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
In September 2013, South Korea banned all seafood imports from eight Japanese prefectures — Fukushima, Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Chiba — due to concerns over radiation contamination following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant meltdown.
Koizumi embarked on his three-day trip to South Korea on Saturday to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Food Security Ministerial Meeting on Sunday in Incheon. Koizumi also attended a trilateral meeting of agricultural ministers from Korea, Japan and China on Monday, which took place for the first time in seven years since 2018.
“Minister Cho stated that more active communication at all levels is necessary in order to develop Korea–Japan relations, which mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties, in a more solid, mature and future-oriented way,” the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said in the statement.
“Minister Koizumi said that he hopes that ways of cooperation between the two countries in various fields will be discussed in more concrete terms, expressing agreement with the view that at all levels there should be greater attention and discussions to advance a future-oriented development of Korea–Japan relations,” the Foreign Ministry added.
Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries explained that Koizumi and Cho "exchanged views on various issues between the two countries, including trade issues" in its separate press statement.
Cho’s separate meeting with Koizumi commanded attention, in light of his rise as a contender to be the next leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, amid domestic political turbulence following the party's recent election debacle.
The LDP-led coalition’s loss of its upper house majority in a historic defeat in the July 20 election has left the fate of Prime Minister and party leader Shigeru Ishiba hanging in the balance.
A recent public opinion poll conducted by Japan News Network on Aug. 2 and 3 among 2,531 people nationwide aged 18 or older found that Koizumi was favored, when asked who would be the most suitable as the next prime minister, should Ishiba step down.
Koizumi topped the poll with the support of 20.4 percent of respondents, followed by former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi with 16.7 percent.
The Foreign Ministry in Seoul previously explained that the meeting between Cho and Koizumi was part of Seoul’s efforts to seek various high-level exchanges to forge a more solid and mature relationship between Korea and Japan.
As the most pertinent example, Cho visited Tokyo on July 29 for a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya — the first destination of his inaugural overseas trip as South Korea’s top diplomat. The choice was considered unusual, coming before his visit to Washington on July 31 to meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The Asahi Shimbun daily on Saturday reported, citing multiple Japanese government sources, that South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung is most likely to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Aug. 23, before heading to the United States for his meeting with US President Donald Trump.
dagyumji@heraldcorp.com
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