Key facts
- President Lee Jae Myung said South Korea and Japan must expand cooperation on supply chains, AI, aerospace and biotechnology.
- Lee said the government is broadening South Korea-Japan economic cooperation while building trust through shuttle diplomacy.
- Lee named low birth rates and an aging population as social issues the two countries are addressing jointly.
- Press secretary Seong Ghi-hong read the written speech at the Future Economic Forum 2026 hosted by Yonhap News Agency.
President Lee Jae Myung said that deepening and expanding cooperation with Japan was a task that could no longer be postponed, in a written speech delivered on November 3, 2026 at the Future Economic Forum 2026 in Seoul. The forum was hosted by Yonhap News Agency under the theme of a fragmenting global economy and bridging the Korean and Japanese markets. Press secretary Seong Ghi-hong read the message on the president's behalf.
Lee cited artificial intelligence as a driver of what he described as a civilization-level transformation, and said the security situation and trade order were undergoing change. He named supply chains, AI, aerospace and biotechnology as areas in which the government is widening South Korea-Japan economic cooperation, and pointed to shuttle diplomacy as the basis of trust between Seoul and Tokyo.