'Korea, Japan should restore visa waiver program'

來源: 開云體育app官方網站 時間: 2023-01-29 08:48:37

Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) Chairman Huh Chang-soo, front row sixth from left, and Japan Business Federation Chairman Masakazu Tokura, front row fifth from left, applaud with participants at the Korea-Japan Business Council at the FKI Conference Center in Seoul, Monday. Newsis

Japan Business Federation asked to support Korea's plan to join CPTPP

By Park Jae-hyuk

Members of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and the Japan Business Federation called on each of their governments to restore a mutual visa waiver program that has been suspended since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid signs of a recovery in Korea's economic ties with Japan under the leadership of President Yoon Suk-yeol, both business federations also agreed during a meeting held on Monday in Seoul on the need to abolish trade regulations and the resumption of currency swaps. It was the first time in three years that business representatives from both sides met face to face.

The two business federations have held annual meetings in Korea and Japan in rotation over the past four decades to promote mutual understanding between businesspeople of the two neighboring countries, but the spread of the coronavirus caused a suspension of the event.

"We hope that a summit between our leaders will be held as soon as possible so that pending issues can be resolved at once," said Huh Chang-soo, chairman of the FKI, which hosted the event.

He asked the Japanese business leaders to support the Korean government's efforts to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Japan has opposed Korea joining the major free trade agreement involving 11 countries, citing the Korean government's ban on the import of seafood from areas near Fukushima, where a nuclear power plant meltdown occurred in 2011.