Lotte Group Chairman Meets with Japanese Prime Minister

Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin had a closed meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Oct. 11.

Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had a closed meeting on Oct. 11. Much attention is being paid to what effect their meeting will have on bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan.

They are likely to have discussed the two countries’ cooperation in the logistics and tourism industries. This is because the prime minister is focusing on tourism and the chairman went to the meeting with the group’s logistics executives.

In addition, they are expected to have agreed on more mutual cooperation with the bilateral relations requiring much improvement and COVID-19 continuing to seriously affect both countries’ real economies.

According to many in the business community, South Korean and Japanese entrepreneurs more familiar with each other have a bigger role to play for better bilateral relations. It is in this regard that corporate owners are moving more actively these days. For example, Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong met with Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Koji Tomita and requested a relaxation of entry restrictions last month.