1. Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun visited Japan from November 12 to 14, and discussed ways to increase the number of Korean talents working for Japanese companies with officials from the Japanese government and business organizations.

o On November 13, Vice Minister Cho met with officials from Japanese business organizations, including Chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Akio Mimura, Director General of the Japan Business Federation Masakazu Kubota, and Chairman of the Japan-Korea Economic Association Mikio Sasaki, as well as government officials, including Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Shinsuke Sugiyama, Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Kazuyuki Yamazaki, Vice Minister of Justice Hiromu Kurokawa, Director General Jinichi Miyano of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and Deputy Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shinjiro Komatsu.

o Vice Minister Cho also attended the KOREA IT in JAPAN 2017 event on November 14, and engaged in activities to help Korean companies increase their presence in Japan and Korean talents work for Japanese companies, including offering words of encouragement to three companies from the ROK and Japan, respectively, which held an MOU signing ceremony, and watching various events aimed at increasing employment.

2. In his meetings with officials from the Japanese business organizations and government, Vice Minister Cho expressed the ROK government’s commitment to improving the ROK-Japan relations, and stressed the need to help more Korean talents work for Japanese companies. The Japanese side agreed on the need, and agreed to closely consult with the ROK to devise more concrete ways to work together, including providing information on what types of Korean talents Japanese companies want, and helping more Korean students study or work in Japan.

o In particular, Vice Minister Cho and officials from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology agreed to work to promote mutual recognition of credits between the two countries’ universities, and thereby help Korean third-year undergraduate students graduate and get a job in Japan after completing the fourth year of study at Japanese universities. Officials from the Japanese Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare also agreed to continue to discuss ways to work together on this.

o Representatives from the Japanese business organizations welcomed Korean talents to Japan’s job market, with the Japanese economy at full employment, and agreed to provide active cooperation, including giving job vacancy information and sharing exemplary cases of employment.

3. The Foreign Ministry will closely cooperate with relevant government agencies, drawing upon the results of the Vice Minister’s visit to Japan, and devise ways to ease youth unemployment by increasing the number of Korean talents working for Japanese companies.


* unofficial translation