The 2024 race has seen more twists than a Hollywood blockbuster
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held his first telephone call with Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday and agreed a united response together with the United States is needed to counter North Korea's threats, his office said.
South Korea last week welcomed Ishiba's election as the head of Japan's ruling party, saying it looked forward to the two countries continuing to improve ties and working together on security and economic issues under his leadership.
Yoon told Ishiba during their call the neighbours are important partners who share values and interests and invited him to continue to communicate closely and enhance cooperation, Yoon's office said.
"The two leaders agreed that South Korea and Japan, South Korea, the United States and Japan need to unite to respond to North Korea's continued provocations," it said.
Ishiba, who was confirmed as Prime Minister on Tuesday, pledged to seek deeper ties with friendly nations to counter the gravest security threats his country has faced since World War II.
Yoon has made it a diplomatic priority to improve ties with Tokyo and build trilateral security cooperation together with the US by putting years of animosity stemming from Japan's wartime history behind.
Ishiba's predecessor Fumio Kishida and Yoon oversaw a newfound partnership after orchestrating an about-face in ties that had sunk to their lowest level in decades before Yoon came to office, prodded by US President Joe Biden.
Both Yoon's office and Japan's foreign ministry said the two leaders agreed to meet soon.
The 2024 race has seen more twists than a Hollywood blockbuster
Time is running out, Antonio Guterres told the 15-member Security Council
Ukraine now spends roughly half of its state budget — or about $40 billion — on defence
The advance of Moscow's forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, has underlined Russia's vast superiority in men and materiel
Teams of enumerators accompanied by soldiers and armed police went door to door in Yangon to fill in the 68-question survey
The debate is likely the final one of the 2024 presidential campaign, potentially giving it some extra weight ahead of the November 5 election
Taal is one of the world's smallest active volcanoes and some of its previous eruptions have impacted the capital and air travel
The 207 to 121 vote was largely a repeat of the Conservatives' failed attempt last week to trigger snap elections