1. Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin had a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Hayashi Yoshimasa at 10:00-10:45, July 13, local time, on the sidelines of the 2023 ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Jakarta. The meeting between the Korean and Japanese Foreign Ministers marked the seventh of its kind since May of last year.

2. The two Foreign Ministers welcomed the complete restoration of shuttle diplomacy through an unprecedentedly close communication between the two countries; noted with appreciation the increase in inter-governmental consultations and corporate and private exchanges, as well as the strengthening of substantive cooperation, between the two countries across the board including diplomacy, security and economy; and agreed to work together to resume the Korea-Japan High-Level Economic Consultation within this year as agreed by the leaders of the two countries. 

3. With regard to the contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Foreign Minister Park stressed that the top priority is on the Korean people’s health and safety, adding that the Japanese government should take measures to maintain a high level of transparency and credibility as well as to ensure scientific safety and people’s reassurance. The Foreign Minister went on to ask that, as the leaders of the two countries had discussed, the Japanese government take necessary measures to this end, such as a real-time sharing of monitoring information and the halt of the discharge and an immediate notification to the Korean side in the event of abnormal situations, such as when the concentration of radioactive material in the water exceeds standard levels. 

4. The two Foreign Ministers strongly condemned the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s launch of a long-range ballistic missile on July 12, stressing that it constitutes a grave violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions and cannot be justified under any circumstances. Foreign Minister Park stated that it is deplorable that the DPRK is wasting its scarce resources for nuclear and missile development and provocations in disregard of economic difficulties of its people. He suggested that Korea and Japan continue to bolster collaboration in fostering a strategic environment leaving the DPRK no choice but to return to the path of denuclearization. Foreign Minister Park also proposed that Korea and Japan continue to work together in improving the human rights situation in the DPRK, while highlighting the need for an early resolution of various human rights issues of the DPRK, including those regarding abductees, detainees and prisoners of war in the DPRK, among others.

5. The two Foreign Ministers shared the view on the need for Korea and Japan to step up cooperation and collaboration on regional and global issues under the grave global circumstances, including the global supply chain crisis. 

6. The two sides also agreed that, given the growing importance of ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific region, Korea and Japan need to increase bilateral cooperation in the bloc.

7. The two Foreign Ministers shared the view on the importance of trilateral cooperation among Korea, Japan and China, and Foreign Minister Park proposed working closely together for an early revitalization of trilateral cooperative mechanisms, such as the trilateral summit. 

8. The two Foreign Ministers agreed to continue close communication and to swiftly implement the follow-up to the bilateral summit talks in order to further solidify the momentum for the improvement and development of bilateral ties in diverse areas including diplomacy, security, economy, culture and people-to-people exchanges.