South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit Japan for two days from next Thursday to hold summit talks with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio. It will be the first visit to Japan by a South Korean president in about four years.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu announced the visit in a news conference on Thursday.
Matsuno said the countries are important neighbors that should cooperate in dealing with the various challenges facing the international community.
He said Japan's government decided to invite the president for a working visit as the two sides have had close communications since Yoon took office.
Matsuno said the government hopes the visit will help further develop Japan-South Korea ties on the basis of the relationship of friendship and cooperation they have had since the normalization of relations in 1965.
South Korea's Office of the President has also announced Yoon's two-day trip to Japan with his wife.
The office stressed that the visit will mark the resumption of the leaders' exchanges and will be an important milestone for the improvement and development of bilateral relations.
It expressed hope that through Yoon's visit, the two countries will expand their multifaceted cooperation in security, economy, society and culture and further enliven exchanges between their peoples so that they will overcome the unfortunate history of the past and move toward the future.
The governments of the two countries have been arranging Yoon's visit in view of Seoul's announcement on Monday of a plan aimed at settling the long-pending issue of wartime labor compensation.
The Japanese government is hoping that the presidential visit will lead to the improvement of relations with South Korea, which have been strained over wartime labor and other issues.