Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he and President Yoon Suk Yeol have agreed to frequently hold summit talks to facilitate bilateral relations ahead of the 60th anniversary next year of the normalization of ties.

Addressing the Japanese Diet on Friday about the Cabinet’s diplomatic achievements since taking office last month, the Japanese leader mentioned his trilateral summit with Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden.

Emphasizing that addressing the issue of Japanese abductees to North Korea is a very important task for his Cabinet, Ishiba said he had affirmed continued cooperation on the matter during talks with his South Korean and American counterparts.

Yoon and Ishiba met on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos in October and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru this month.

Earlier, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Seoul and Tokyo have begun negotiations for Ishiba’s first visit to South Korea in early January for a summit with Yoon.

Yoon’s office, in response, said “nothing has been finalized” regarding the prime minister’s possible visit to Seoul.