President Mon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook wave their hands at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday, before departing for his state visit to three Scandinavian, such as Finland, Norway and Sweden. (Credits: Yonhap via The Korea Times)

Moon Jae-in insists for meeting with Xi and Abe during the Osaka G20 Summit

The current President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, insists for possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the forthcoming G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, as the high-ranking government official revealed.  

On Sunday, the official said they are adjusting the schedules for the president’s possible summits with Xi and Abe during the G20 conference.

According to the official who requested unnamed, the summits between the three leaders are expected to break a current deadlock in discussion referred to dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program. 

President Moon is being demanded to be more active in discussing diplomatic issues with the neighbouring countries, the official added.   

As the largest market in terms of economy for South Korea. Moon Jae-in would ask for Xi Jinping not to apply any punitive and discriminatory measures against South Korean manufacturers in China including LG and Samsung Group, in connection with the trade dispute between Washington and Beijing. 

Due to the dispute, South Korean exporters are worry if they could be subjected to restrictions. Recently, a Chinese officials have warned the world’s two memory chip suppliers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, not to follow the U.S embargo of Huawei.  

The meeting with the Chinese president would also discuss about the nuclear issues between the U.S and North Korea. 

Conflicts between Seoul and Tokyo about the forced labour of Koreans during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula would be discussed by Moon and Abe during the meeting, said an official and other sources.   

In October 2018, Seoul’s Supreme Court had given statement that the two Japanese companies, Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corp,have to pay compensation for the Korean victims, yet Tokyo argued the compensation problem has been done in 1965 through a state-to-state-treaty. 

According to a senior Foreign Ministry official in Tokyo, the last talks between President Moon and Prime Minister Abe happened in September in New York. No further discussion after it ended.  

On June 28-29, Japan will be the first time hosting the G20 summit where G20 leaders will have discussion for some issues in Osaka.  

According to European Council, there are 5 prioritiesthat Japan will focus on during the summit ; economic growth and the reduction of inequalities, quality of infrastructure and health, climate change and ocean plastic waste, the digital economy, challenges of aging societies. 

Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2019/06/120_270315.html