Japan's diplomatic steps toward the U.S. and China ahead of the New Year...Korea-Japan relations struggle

Ishiba "I want to share awareness of the situation in Northeast Asia with Trump"
Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Visits China for the First Time since taking office
"Progressing Sino-Japanese Relations by Promoting Strategic Mutual Relations"

[Anchor]
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has repeatedly expressed his willingness to hold an early meeting with U.S. President-elect Trump, who will take office next month.

In addition, Foreign Minister Iwaya visited China and emphasized the promotion of strategic reciprocal relations, continuing his busy steps toward diplomacy with the U.S. and China ahead of the new year.

Correspondent Kim Se-ho's report from Tokyo.

[Reporter]
Ishiba is focusing his diplomatic efforts on an early meeting with U.S. President-elect Trump, who will take office next month.

[Shigeru Ishiba / Japanese Prime Minister: We also want to hold early talks with the next U.S. president to further enhance the U.S.-Japan alliance.]

In particular, he emphasized that he would like to share his perception of the situation in Northeast Asia with President-elect Trump.

In the midst of this, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visited China for the first time since taking office and met with Prime Minister Li Chang.

It is the first time in a year and eight months that the Japanese foreign minister has visited China, and they agreed to advance Sino-Japanese relations based on the promotion of strategic reciprocal relations between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Iwaya then discussed specific bilateral issues during a meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

[Iwaya Takeshi / Japanese Foreign Minister: We would like to take the first step toward truly reducing tasks and pending issues and increasing cooperation and solidarity with Vice-Minister Wang Yi]

[Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi]: China and Japan are close neighbors, and the importance of bilateral relations goes beyond both countries. If Sino-Japanese relations are stabilized, Asia will be more stable.]

At this meeting, the ban on imports of Japanese fisheries products and the situation in Taiwan due to the discharge of Fukushima contaminated water,
It is known that Japanese safety in China was discussed in connection with the killing of an elementary school student in Japan
.

In addition, the Japanese government also expressed its intention to maintain cooperation between Korea and Japan by continuing communication with Acting President Han Duck-soo.

However, as there is a limit to cooperation with South Korea, which continues to be politically confused, such as the impeachment of the president, it is expected that the government will continue to struggle to come up with countermeasures.

I'm Kim Se-ho from YTN in Tokyo.