Photo : AFP = YONHAP News
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said close cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo is vital to the interests of both sides in the current strategic environment.
Speaking Friday in his first address to the National Diet since taking office, Ishiba pledged to build on recent advances in bilateral cooperation ahead of the 60th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral ties between South Korea and Japan, which falls next year.
The Japanese leader also promised to engage in close trilateral security cooperation with South Korea and the U.S.
Earlier, during his first phone conversation with South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol, Ishiba expressed hopes of continuing to communicate closely and work in solidarity with Seoul.
On the issue of Japanese abductees in North Korea, Ishiba pledged to exert every effort to secure their swift repatriation and to resolve the issue with Pyongyang.