![Newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Oct. 21. [AP/YONHAP]](https://imgnews.pstatic.net/image/640/2025/10/21/0000078611_001_20251021194111240.jpg?type=w860)
President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday congratulated Sanae Takaichi, who was elected Japan’s new prime minister, and said he hoped to meet her in person at the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Gyeongju.
“I look forward to meeting Prime Minister Takaichi in Gyeongju, where the upcoming APEC summit will be held, and to having a constructive dialogue,” Lee wrote in a post published in both Korean and Japanese on Facebook.
“The two countries have long developed cooperative relations in diverse fields, including politics, security, the economy, sociocultural exchanges and people-to-people interaction, as neighbors sharing the same front yard,” he added. “We now stand at a critical turning point as we open the next 60 years of Korea-Japan relations.”
Lee said that “the importance of Korea-Japan ties is greater than ever amid an increasingly uncertain international landscape,” expressing hope that the two countries will “further strengthen forward-looking, mutually beneficial cooperation between our governments and our peoples under Prime Minister Takaichi’s leadership.”
Lee also said he hoped that the two leaders could “meet frequently and communicate actively through shuttle diplomacy.”
Earlier, the presidential office also expressed hope for “continued active exchanges” with Japan's new leader.
Kang Yu-jung, the presidential spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday that “the leaders of Korea and Japan have built trust and achieved progress in bilateral relations through communication,” adding, “It is our government’s position to continue exchanges based on the foundation of this advanced relationship.”
Regarding the possibility of a Korea-Japan summit during Takaichi’s visit to Korea for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, Kang said that “working-level discussions are underway,” and that the presidential office “has high expectations.”
Takaichi, known for her hard-line conservative views, has often made hawkish remarks on historical and territorial issues between Korea and Japan and has regularly visited the Yasukuni Shrine, where Class A war criminals from the Pacific War are enshrined.
Takaichi will be Japan’s 104th prime minister and the first woman to assume the position in the country’s 140-year history of the cabinet system, which began in 1885 with Hirobumi Ito as Japan’s first prime minister.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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