Japan names Koji Tomita new ambassador to S. Korea: sources

Japan has named Ambassador Koji Tomita with several years of diplomatic experience in South Korea as its new top envoy in Seoul, informed sources said Wednesday.

Late last month, Tokyo made a request for Seoul's consent to the 62-year-old diplomat's nomination in an "agrement" -- a diplomatic procedure required before his official appointment, the sources said.

If appointed, Tomita will replace Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine, who is set to wrap up his three-year stint in South Korea next month.

From 2004-2006, Tomita served as a minister in the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and is known to have been fond of the Korean language and music.

In 1981, Tomita entered the foreign service. Since then, he has served in various overseas missions, including those in the United States and Israel. During the Group of 20 summit in June in Osaka, Japan, he served as the government representative for the premier forum.

His father-in-law is Kimitake Hiraoka, one of the country's nationalist novelists.

For the No. 2 post in the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Hirohisa Soma, former minister for economic affairs at the embassy, has reportedly been named. Soma, who studied at Seoul National University in the late 1980s, served in the Seoul post from 2012-2015. (Yonhap)