By Reporter Kayla lee  

Jung Gang, Chief of Consular Affairs and Safety, visited Tokyo, Japan, and held the 23rd Korea-Japan Consular Chiefs Meeting with Toshihide Ando, Director-General of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on July 19. 

During the meeting, they extensively exchanged views on cooperation in various consular areas between the two countries, including △support for immigration, entry, and stay △protection of their respective nationals within each other's country.

Director Jung requested Japan's cooperation to improve the convenience of stay for our nationals. At the same time, considering the recent surge in Korean nationals visiting Japan after the COVID-19 situation, he urged Japan to pay special attention to and cooperate in ensuring the safety of our nationals.

Both sides shared information on key consular policies of their respective governments, such as △digitization of consular services, △establishment of overseas compatriot offices, △protection of nationals abroad, △immigration, entry, stay, and foreign workforce recruitment. 

They also exchanged views on strengthening bilateral cooperation in protecting their nationals in third countries, based on recent cases of cooperation in the evacuation and repatriation of nationals during Sudan's crisis.

Both sides evaluated that this meeting, resumed after a four-year hiatus due to COVID-19 since the 22nd meeting in 2019, served as a useful opportunity to discuss ways to enhance consular cooperation between the two countries. They also agreed on the importance of promoting people-to-people exchanges through consular cooperation for building a forward-looking relationship and decided to continue close collaboration in the consular field. The 24th Korea-Japan Consular Chiefs Meeting is planned to be held in Seoul at an appropriate time.