President of the Republic of Korea Lee Myung-bak paid an official working visit to Japan from April 20 to 21. During the visit, he had a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo on April 21. The two leaders shared the view that Korea and Japan should build a mature partnership that jointly contributes to the international society. Detailed achievements in this summit talks are as follows : 

1) Expanding People-to-people Exchange

The two leaders agreed to increase youth exchanges between the two countries to strengthen the basis of bilateral relations for the future, by doubling the number of Working Holiday Visas up to 7,200 starting from next year and raising it to 10,000 by year 2012. They have also agreed to promote the exchange of 1,500 undergraduate students for the next 3 years and encourage exchanges of younger generation of lawmakers along with various on-going exchanges. 

2) Strengthening Economic Cooperation  

The two leaders renewed the pledge to further strengthen bilateral economic ties on corporate and governmental levels. They agreed to lay foundation for technical cooperation and mutual investment in areas of major industries including parts and materials,and to devise the measures to encourage exchanges between the industries.

In addition, they reached an agreement to hold ‘Policy Consultations between Ministries in charge of Middle and Small-Sized Companies of Korea and Japan’, in order to ease trade imbalance between the two countries. 

The two leaders shared an understanding that the Korea-Japan FTA/EPA is to play a major role in strengthening economic relations between the two countries. They agreed to start reviewing the necessary conditions to resume negotiations for the Agreement and to hold working-level consultations in June.

3) Cooperation to Resolve the North Korean Nuclear Issue

The two leaders shared a common view on the importance of completing the second-phase of North Korean nuclear dismantlement at the earliest date possible as agreed at the Six-Party Talks on October 3, 2007. They also agreed to exert collaborative efforts along with the US for the complete implementation of the Six-Party Joint Statement.

Prime Minister Fukuda expressed his support for Korean government’s policy toward the North, including the ‘Denuclearization•Opening•3000’ initiative. President Lee showed his support for comprehensive resolution of the pending issues between Japan and the DPRK and the improvement of their bilateral relations according to the Pyongyang Declaration.

4) Strengthening Bilateral Cooperation in the International Community

 President Lee and Prime Minister Fukuda agreed to actively participate in the building-up of the post-2012 Climate Change Framework and to have close consultations on measures against global warming. They also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the area of official development assistance by sharing experience as donor countries and finding ways to provide joint assistance in Africa and Asia. In this regard, they consent to hold bilateral policy consultations on the development  assistance on a regular basis.