In the latest sign of warming ties, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday became the first leaders of the two Asian neighbors to jointly visit a cenotaph dedicated to Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Ahead of a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit, Kishida, Yoon and their wives visited the memorial together, placing flowers in front of it in a highly symbolic gesture that the Japanese leader characterized as “an important event” for the relationship.
Emphasizing that the 32-minute bilateral summit was their third meeting since March, Kishida called the flurry of diplomacy between the countries “a true indication of progress in Japan-South Korea relations under our leadership.”