Overview
- President Lee arrived in Japan for a two-day visit and will meet Prime Minister Takaichi on Tuesday for talks and dinner, with a joint press appearance planned but no outcome document expected.
- Officials say the leaders aim to deepen economic-security cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, intellectual property and semiconductors, and to continue reciprocal summit-level visits.
- Both governments are expected to affirm closer bilateral and trilateral security coordination with the United States to address North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.
- Lee has said it is not South Korea’s role to intervene in the dispute between Japan and China over Taiwan, as Chinese export controls and potential rare earth supply risks weigh on regional supply chains.
- Humanitarian cooperation under discussion includes DNA analysis of remains from a 1942 undersea mining disaster in Japan that killed Korean forced laborers.