▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the end of their joint news conference after their summit in Tokyo, in this March 16, 2023, file photo. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) Japan PM-S Korea

(LEAD) Japanese PM Kishida to visit S. Korea this weekend

(ATTN: UPDATES with details, background; COMBINES with story slugged 'S Korea-Japan-Kishida'; ADDS photo)

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will arrive in South Korea this weekend for a two-day visit, the presidential office said Tuesday, as the two countries work to repair ties badly frayed over historical disputes.

Kishida will pay a working visit to South Korea on Sunday and Monday at the invitation of President Yoon Suk Yeol, the first bilateral visit by a Japanese leader since October 2011, the office said in a press release.

Yoon and Kishida will hold a summit Sunday, Japan's foreign ministry said.

The two leaders are expected to discuss ways to strengthen their security cooperation to counter growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. They are also likely to agree on the need to bolster trilateral cooperation among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo for stronger nuclear deterrence against the North.

The trip will come less than two months after Yoon visited Tokyo for a summit with Kishida in the wake of his administration's decision to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor without contributions from Japanese firms.

The forced labor issue had been a major thorn in bilateral relations since South Korea's Supreme Court ordered two Japanese companies in 2018 to pay compensation to the victims mobilized during Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

The Yoon-Kishida summit will also come only days after the South Korean president held a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington and agreed on measures to strengthen the U.S. extended deterrence commitment to South Korea.

Extended deterrence refers to the U.S. commitment to mobilizing all of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally.

Kishida's visit will mark the resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" at the leader level, or regular visits to each other's country, the presidential office said.

Resuming shuttle diplomacy was one of the agreements reached by Yoon and Kishida during their summit in Tokyo in March.

Yoon was the first South Korean president to pay a bilateral visit to Japan in 12 years, as the two countries' relations had been strained over the forced labor row and other historical disputes stemming from Tokyo's colonial rule.

Kishida told reporters about his plan to visit South Korea while on a trip to Ghana on Monday, saying it will be a "good opportunity" for the two sides to "frankly exchange opinions" on ways to develop South Korea-Japan relations and handle the rapidly changing global security environment, according to Japan's Kyodo News.

Kishida will be accompanied to Seoul by his wife, Yuko, the presidential office said.

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