Busan: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday paid his respects at the grave of a South Korean student remembered as a symbol of friendly bilateral relations for his selfless attempt to save a Japanese man. Ishiba visited the late Lee Soo-hyun's grave at a cemetery in the coastal city of Busan after arriving earlier in the day for summit talks with President Lee Jae Myung.

According to Yonhap News Agency, it marked the first time a sitting Japanese prime minister visited the grave of the student who died at the age of 26 trying to rescue a Japanese man who had fallen onto subway tracks in Tokyo in 2001. Lee's heroic act has stood as a testament to the two countries' ties over the years, even during periods when relations worsened due to long-standing thorny issues stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea.

Shin Yoon-chan, Lee's mother and honorary chairperson of the LSH Asia Scholarship Foundation, told Yonhap News Agency that Ishiba expressed hopes for closer ties between the two countries during the visit. Shin described Ishiba's visit to her son's grave on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the normalization of ties between South Korea and Japan as a "meaningful" event.

"Through this occasion, I hope the two countries establish even more friendly ties in the future," she said. Multiple Japanese officials have visited Lee's grave, including then Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in 2010 and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in 2018.

A remembrance ceremony for Lee takes place every year at Shin-Okubo Station where he died. Ishiba was set to hold talks with President Lee in Busan before returning home Wednesday.