Chronologies
Japan - Korea
Chronology from Sep 2023 to Dec 2023
: South Korean Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Kang Jae-kwon and Japanese Senior deputy Foreign Minister Ono Keiichi meet in Seoul and agree to work together to “fully realize” bilateral economic cooperation, the first such meeting in nearly eight years.
: In response to the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling, the South Korean foreign ministry says it will continue to compensate forced labor victims through a third-party reimbursement system. The ministry said 11 out of 15 plaintiffs have accepted this compensation plan.
: Chairman of South Korea’s Financial Services Commission Kim Joo-hyun and Kurita Teruhisa, commissioner of Japan’s Financial Services Agency, meet in Seoul to discuss financial cooperation, the first such meeting in seven years.
: US Deputy National Security Adviser for cyber and emerging technologies Anne Neuberger, South Korean Deputy National Security Adviser In Seong-hwan, and Japanese deputy head of the National Security Secretariat Ichikawa Keiichi meet virtually to share information on cyber activities by North Korea.
: US, South Korea, and Japan announce that their real-time North Korea missile warning data sharing mechanism has been activated.
: President Yoon states that the country plans to “significantly boost semiconductor cooperation with such major countries as the Netherlands, the United States and Japan going forward.”
: Japan does not appeal a South Korean appeals court’s Nov. 23 ruling which was in favor of a group of former “comfort women.” Japan had two weeks to file an appeal.
: South Korean deputy nuclear envoy Lee Jun-il meets US Deputy Special Representative for North Korea Jung Pak and Japan’s nuclear envoy Namazu Hiroyuki in Japan to discuss North Korea.
: US, South Korea, and Japan sign a cooperation framework on science and innovation, and agree to develop a Memorandum of Cooperation in 2024 to foster collaboration in critical and emerging technologies.
: South Korean National Security Advisor Cho Tae-yong meets Japanese National Security Secretariat Secretary General Akiba Takeo in Seoul; both reaffirm the need for bilateral and trilateral cooperation with the US on North Korea.
: President Yoon hosts US, South Korean, and Japanese national security advisors for dinner at the presidential residence.
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: South Korea’s senior presidential official says the country is looking to host the next US-Japan-ROK trilateral summit in 2024.
: Namazu Hiroyuki, Japan’s chief nuclear envoy and director general for the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, meets Kim Gunn, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, to discuss North Korea. Namazu also meets Seo Min-jung, South Korea’s director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss bilateral issues.
: South Korea and Japan’s trade ministers attend their ministries’ sports exchange game in Osaka and a luncheon conference to discuss measures for bilateral cooperation.
: Bank of Korea and the Bank of Japan sign a three-year currency swap deal worth $10 billion in accordance with the bilateral Finance Ministers’ Meeting held in June.
: South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin meets Foreign Minister Kamikawa in Busan, South Korea to discuss North Korea and the recent appeals court ruling related to comfort women. This is followed by a trilateral meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi where all three sides reaffirm their agreement to hold a trilateral summit “at the earliest, mutually convenient time.”
: Secretary Blinken holds a call with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to condemn North Korea’s space launch “for its destabilizing effect in the region.”
: South Korean foreign ministry responds to the appeals court ruling, stating it respects the 2015 comfort women agreement and that it is “looking into the details of the ruling.”
: A South Korean appeals court, the Seoul High Court rules in favor of a group of 16 former “comfort women” (survivors of Imperial Japan’s wartime sexual slavery) ordering the Japanese government to provide 200 million won (about $150,000) in compensation to each victim, overruling a lower court ruling in 2021. Foreign Minister Kamikawa issues a statement calling the ruling “extremely regrettable and absolutely unacceptable.” South Korean Ambassador to Japan Yun Dukmin is summoned by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
: South Korean Foreign Minister Park and Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa meet on the margins of APEC and exchange views on the Middle East, Russia, and North Korea.
: Secretary Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Park, and Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa meet on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco to discuss topics including the Middle East, Russia, and North Korea.
: US, Japanese, and South Korean defense ministers hold a virtual meeting and confirm that their real-time information-sharing system on North Korean missiles is in its “final stage.”
: Japanese Environment Minister Ito Shintaro meets Korean and Chinese counterparts in Nagoya and stresses the safety of the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima plant.
: Japanese Air Self-Defense Force aircraft helps 15 South Koreans and a foreign national family member depart Israel.
: US-Japan-ROK “Trilateral Development and Humanitarian Assistance Policy Dialogue” is held in Honolulu.
: Japan-ROK Development Policy Dialogue is held ahead of the US-Japan-ROK “Trilateral Development and Humanitarian Assistance Policy Dialogue.”
: US, South Korea, and Japan release a joint statement “strongly condemning” North Korea’s arms transfer to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.
: Prime Minister Kishida expresses willingness for a “new era” of relations with South Korea in a message delivered to a gathering of Japanese and South Korean business and political figures.
: US, South Korea, and Japan conduct the first trilateral aerial exercise to strengthen their joint response capabilities against North Korea.
: South Korean Foreign Minister Park thanks Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa for helping 18 Korean nationals and a foreign family member depart Israel through a Japanese air tanker.
: South Korean Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul meets Japanese Vice Minister of Defense Serizawa Kiyoshi on the sidelines of the Seoul Defense Dialogue and discusses bilateral security cooperation.
: US, South Korea, and Japan establish a communication hotline, which reportedly enables voice and video communication among the three countries’ national security councils.
: South Korea military transport plane help evacuate 163 South Koreans, 51 Japanese, and six Singaporeans from Israel.
: President Yoon meets members of the Korea-Japan Friendship Association and the Japan-Korea Friendship Association, and says the increased people-to-people exchanges demonstrates the improved Japan-ROK relationship is “the wish and will of the two countries’ people.”
: US, South Korea, and Japan begin the two-day trilateral maritime interdiction exercise to strengthen security cooperation.
: South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin and Japanese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Okano Masataka hold a “strategic dialogue,” the first such meeting in nine years.
: South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese senior officials meet in Seoul and discuss resuming trilateral cooperation mechanisms including a possible trilateral summit among the three countries.
: Chinese President Xi Jinping meets South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on the sidelines of the Asian Games, and reportedly says he “welcomes” a China-Japan-South Korea trilateral meeting “at an appropriate time.”
: South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin meets Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to discuss the bilateral relationship and the North Korea issue.
: US, Japan, and South Korean national security advisors hold a call to discuss the summit between Russian President Putin and North Korean leader Kim.
: Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and South Korean President Yoon meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit and agree to work towards a China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit.
: 32nd Korea-Japan Customs Heads’ Meeting is held in South Korea, marking the first such meeting in seven years.
: South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup holds a phone call with US and Japanese counterparts to discuss trilateral security cooperation following up on the Camp David Summit, and North Korea’s missile launches.
: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers remarks at the ASEAN Plus Three Summit, stating that the country will work to “revive trilateral cooperation mechanisms” with Japan and China.