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On May 14, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received a courtesy call from a delegation from the Japan-Korea Economic Association at the Prime Minister's Office.
 
In his address, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Annyeong hashimnikka (Good afternoon). Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to extend my welcome to you who are visiting Japan.
 
First, I would like to congratulate Chairman Kim (of the Korea-Japan Economic Association) on being awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun. I also would like to thank you for reiterating in front of the press during your remarks today that the Abe administration has good relations with President Moon Jae-in.
 
The Japan-Korea Business Conference is celebrating its landmark 50th meeting. Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have maintained our close economic relations as this business conference has continued regardless of the overall state of Japan-ROK relations. I would like to express my gratitude for the hard work of everyone here in the business circles, including Chairman Kim and Chairman Sasaki (of the Japan-Korea Economic Association).
 
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Japan-Republic of Korea Joint Declaration on a New Japan-Republic of Korea Partnership towards the Twenty-first Century. President Moon recently made the first visit by a President of the ROK to Japan in seven years, and we had an extremely good summit meeting. During that summit meeting, we confirmed that Japan and the ROK would continue to develop future-oriented relations. I have high hopes for making various exchanges even more active, including the parliamentary exchanges worked on by Chairman Nukaga (of the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’ Union), who is also in attendance today. I ask for the continued cooperation of everyone in the business circles in order to further deepen our economic relations. Thank you.”