BUSINESS KOREA


 

The Korea-Japan Business Leaders Conference, which was postponed once, will be held in September to deepen ties between businesspeople of the two countries amid escalating economic conflicts between the two neigbors.

The Korea-Japan Economic Association announced on July 30 that it will hold the 51st Korea-Japan Business Leaders Conference at Lotte Hotel in Seoul for two days from Sept. 24 in cooperation with the Japan-Korea Economic Association. Kim Yoon, chairman of Samil Holdings, and Mikio Sasaki, a special adviser to Mitsubishi Corp., decided to hold the event in September at a meeting in Japan last week.

The Korea-Japan Business Leaders Conference has been held since 1969 for the sake of promoting economic cooperation between Korea and Japan. This year's meeting was originally planned to be held in Korea for three days from May 13, but due to deteriorating relations between the two countries, it was postponed in March. Previously, it was put off due to the Gulf War in 1991, the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, and the 2017 presidential election. It was the first time that the conference was postponed due to worsening bilateral relations.

Under the theme of "Korea-Japan Cooperation in the Rapidly Changing World Economy," the meeting will discuss a new leap forward in Korea-Japan relations and the realization of common goals between Korea and Japan. In addition, the Korea-Japan Industrial Technology Fair 2019 organized by the Korea-Japan Industry and Technical Cooperation Foundation will be held to promote industrial technology cooperation between the two countries.

The two associations have been convinced that by establishing a good political and economic relationship, they will be able to contribute to the development and prosperity of both countries and to the stability and prosperity of the East Asian region and the world. As a result, the two associations plan to announce a joint statement containing their recommendations on the direction of the Korea-Japan relationship.