(LEAD) Biz leaders of S. Korea, Japan call for dialogue to improve ties under Yoon gov't

All News 18:58 May 30, 2022

(ATTN: UPDATES story with key remarks from conference, details from joint statement)

SEOUL, May 30 (Yonhap) -- Business leaders of South Korea and Japan on Monday urged their governments to hold talks to improve strained bilateral ties and boost economic cooperation, stressing that the two countries must not "let the relationship worsen any more."

They made the call in a joint statement adopted at the end of their annual meeting held both online and offline as the business circles sought ways to restore economic exchanges and help ease the longstanding feud between the two neighbors over history and trade issues.

Hopes have arisen for improvement in the bilateral relations as the new South Korean government of President Yoon Suk-yeol has highlighted the importance of restoring ties, saying that it will serve the interests of the peoples of both countries.

Kim Yoon, chairman of Samyang Holdings Corp. and head of Korea-Japan Economic Association, speaks from Seoul during the 54th South Korea-Japan Business Conference, held in a hybrid format connecting Seoul and Tokyo, on May 30, 2022. (Yonhap)

"The grave South Korea-Japan relations have affected the economic activities and we welcome the moves to improve the relations and that there is an understanding that we can no longer let the relationship worsen any more," the statement read.

"We hope that the dialogue between the two governments make progress so that the businessmen in both countries can freely and confidently engage in economic activities," it added.

The statement also pointed out that the two countries have many shared tasks, such as the environment, energy, decarbonization, low birth rates and aging populations, and that cooperation between the two countries is "all the more important."

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated to one of their worst levels in years amid ongoing disputes over wartime sex slaves, forced labor and other issues related to Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Japan has maintained restrictions on its exports to South Korea of key industrial materials vital to Korea's tech industry since 2019.

The 54th South Korea-Japan Business Conference, hosted by the Korea-Japan Economic Association (KJEA), has been held every year since 1969 to help promote bilateral economic cooperation and ease the longstanding feud between the two countries stemming from the colonial past.

This year's conference was attended by some 260 business leaders from both countries. Kim Yoon, chairman of Samyang Holdings Corp. and head of KJEA, and Koo Ja-yeol, chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, were among some 160 South Korean businessmen.

Mikio Sasaki, chairman of the board of Mitsubishi Corp., and Akiyoshi Koji, chairman of Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., were among some 100 Japanese participants.

South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun, who attended the event, thanked businesses of both countries for working to prop up trade and investments, and promised to support companies to "expand future-oriented economic and trade cooperation."

The next conference will be hosted by Seoul next year.