UNJournal Jon Lee | Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul held his first bilateral meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya on the sidelines of the APEC Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, and exchanged views on bilateral relations, North Korea, and nuclear issues on Nov. 14.
 

The two ministers appreciated the swiftness with which the first foreign ministers' meeting was held after the inauguration of Japan's new cabinet, and agreed to continue to communicate and work closely together as heads of diplomacy to advance bilateral relations.

In particular, they agreed to continue close consultations between the two preparatory T/Fs ahead of the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations next year, and to materialize various commemorative projects that can be experienced by the people of both countries.

The two ministers also agreed to wisely manage bilateral issues between South Korea and Japan and strive to take bilateral relations to the next level.

The two ministers recognized that North Korea's recent deployment of soldiers to Russia poses a serious threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and around the world.
They also agreed that South Korea, U.S. and Japan should closely cooperate on military cooperation to effectively tackle such issues as the military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, as well as on North Korea and nuclear issues.