Japan and South Korea to boost cooperation on stable energy supply

(19 May 2026)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Andong, South Korea - 19 May 2026
1. Wide of Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi standing next to South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung during joint news conference
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Sanae Takaichi, Japan's Prime Minister:
"We exchanged views not only limited to Japan-South Korea relations, but Indo-Pacific regional affairs, including the situation in the Middle East. Both of us agreed to continue working to de-escalate the situation, which included securing safe and free navigation in the Strait of Hormuz."
3. Wide of news conference
4. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Sanae Takaichi, Japan's Prime Minister:
"I welcome that the fact that we agreed to set a Japan-Korea cooperative framework with two pillars: to improve the resilience of our energy supplies, which includes building up reserves in the Indo-Pacific region, in accordance with POWERR Asia (Partnership On Wide Energy and Resources Resilience Asia) which was announced last month, and to strengthen Japan-Korea's energy security in crude oil, oil-related products, LNG swap agreement."
5. Cutaway of reporters
6. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Sanae Takaichi, Japan's Prime Minister:
"Considering the current severe global environment, the president and I both see importance in strategic partnership, including Japan-South Korea and Japan-South Korea-U.S. security cooperation, and I welcome that we have made concrete progress so far. We both agreed to further cooperate and closely communicate even more in order to enhance the sustainability of the trilateral cooperation in security and economic security."
7. Wide of news conference
STORYLINE:
South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi agreed to set a cooperative framework in order to improve resilience of energy supplies Tuesday.

Both Japan and South Korea heavily rely on crude oil imports from the Middle East and have faced a challenge of securing oil and related products since the launch of Israeli-U.S. attacks on Iran in late February.

The leaders spoke from Lee's hometown of Andong, a southeastern South Korean city, famous for a centuries-old traditional folk village that is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In January, the two met in Takaichi’s hometown of Nara, an ancient Japanese capital.

AP video shot by: Yong-ho Kim

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