Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Tuesday that he expects this week's visit to Japan by President Yoon Suk-Yeol to solidify momentum to mend relations between Seoul and Tokyo. Han made the remarks two days before Yoon heads to Japan for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the wake of Seoul's decision to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor on its own without Japanese firms' contributions. "We expect that the hard-arranged momentum for improving Korea-Japan relations will be firmly established through this visit," Han told a Cabinet meeting. "The resumption of long-stalled exchanges between the leaders of Korea and Japan will be the first step for the two countries to move toward the future without being tied to the unfortunate history of the past," Han said. Han instructed Cabinet ministers to come up with plans to boost cooperation with Japan, calling Tokyo "a neighbor who can discuss and cooperate in various fields such as economy and security, science and technology, culture, and response to climate change." Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the government complex in Sejong, central South Korea, on March 14, 2023, which is connected via video link with the government complex in Seoul. (Yonhap) Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the government complex in Sejong, central South Korea, on March 14, 2023, which is connected via video link with the government complex in Seoul. (Yonhap) Han also called for pan-governmental measures to boost the nation's birth rate, saying that previous measures have failed to reverse the trend of low birth rates. "Cabinet members should reflect on their policies and make all-out efforts to come up with creative and innovative measures," Han said. South Korea's fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime, fell to an all-time low of 0.78 last year.

Source: Yonhap News Agency