The new Japanese Ambassador to South Korea, Yasumasa Nagamine, is expected to arrive in Seoul next week, multiple sources knowledgeable about Seoul-Tokyo relations said Wednesday.
Nagamine, 62, will take over for former Japanese top envoy Koro Bessho after coming to Seoul around Aug. 25 and presenting his letter of credentials to South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
His arrival comes after the Japanese government on July 15 appointed Nagamine, who served as deputy foreign minister in charge of economic affairs, as the new ambassador to South Korea.
He represented Japan in high-level economic talks that the two neighboring countries held in January.
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Photo dated May 12, 2015, shows Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Yasumasa Nagamine (right) posing for a photo with Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen (left) and the South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry's FTA policy director Kim Hak-do during their talks on a trilateral free trade agreement at a Seoul hotel. (Yonhap) |
Nagamine, who joined the Japanese Foreign Ministry in 1977, previously served as ambassador to the Netherlands and director general of the ministry's International Legal Affairs Bureau.
The appointment of Nagamine, who is not a South Korea expert, as Japan's top envoy in Seoul is seen as a move to manage the bilateral relations in a stable way following a landmark agreement in late December on resolving the issue of Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women for its troops during World War II.
Bessho served as Japan's top envoy to South Korea for nearly four years from October 2012 before taking office as U.N. ambassador in June. (Yonhap)
