1. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Hong Kyun held a meeting with Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Okano Masataka in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, December 26, and exchanged views on bilateral relations, Korea-Japan and Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation, and North Korea issues.

2. Vice Minister Kim explained that the Korean government is stably managing overall state affairs under the acting authority system and all relevant future processes will be carried out democratically based on the Constitution and laws, as already confirmed in the call between Acting President Han Duck-soo and Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru on December 19 and the one between Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul and Minister for Foreign Affairs Iwaya Takeshi on December 23.

3. Given the importance of bilateral relations, the two Vice Ministers agreed to continue maintaining and developing bilateral ties as well as implementing close exchanges and cooperation between the two countries at all levels and in various fields.

4. As the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan is just around the corner, the two Vice Ministers reiterated that they will continue to communicate with each other mainly through the task forces established within their Foreign Ministries in order to implement various commemorative projects and seek results that are tangible to people. They also agreed to continue consultations toward an early resumption of high-level face-to-face exchanges.  

5. The two Vice Ministers shared the view that Korea-Japan and Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation mechanism should continue as an important framework for responding to regional and global challenges and agreed to continue to build on the achievements of bilateral and trilateral cooperation. In particular, the two Vice Ministers agreed to continue close coordination among the three countries to brace for possible provocations by North Korea and to respond to the growing illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.