South Korea's president highlights friendly ties in Japan before key summit with Trump

TOKYO (AP) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, in his first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday, stressed the importance of setting aside their past differences as they face common challenges from the United States, their mutual ally.

The two agreed to cooperate in areas that include clean energy, artificial intelligence, low births, the aging population and disaster prevention. They reaffirmed South Korea and Japan would work together and with the United States toward ending North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs.

Lee's visit to Japan may help him prepare for his crucial first summit in Washington on Aug. 25 with U.S. President Donald Trump, mainly on trade and defense issues.

“I came to Japan today with a conviction to boldly break away from past practices, pursuing pragmatic diplomacy centered on national interest and opening a path toward future-oriented, mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries,” Lee told a joint press conference after two summit sessions.

Lee — who met Ishiba on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in June — said he is the first South Korean president since the 1965 normalization of ties to choose Japan as the first destination for a bilateral summit after taking office.

Japanese officials see it as a sign of Lee placing great importance on relations between the two neighbors whose ties have repeatedly been disrupted by historical disputes, hampering their trilateral coordination with Washington.

“It is more important than ever for the two countries to cooperate,” Ishiba said. ”The president and I share this view since his inauguration and I feel encouraged."

The stable relations not only benefit the two countries but also the region, said Ishiba in his opening remarks at the summit. The Japanese prime minister faces pressure from rightwing rivals within his governing party to resign over its July election loss.

Saturday’s summit was aimed at highlighting the two nations' good ties as they mark the 60th anniversary of normalizing their diplomatic relations.

Rintaro Nishimura, an associate with The Asia Group’s Japan branch, said the timing of Lee’s visit shows his style "of pragmatic diplomacy,” with a focus both on bilateral and trilateral relations with the U.S.

“I also think it was a gesture from Lee to show that Japan is very important in his mind as a partner in his foreign policy,” he said.

Ishiba, who met Trump in Washington in February and held talks with him at the June G7 summit, has settled a tariffs deal ahead of South Korea.

“We shared a recognition that in the face of a rapidly changing international situation, unwavering cooperation of South Korea-Japan and South Korea-U.S.-Japan is more important than ever,” Lee said.

Lee said they agreed to pursue "a virtuous cycle” in which their improved relations enhance their trilateral cooperation with the U.S.

Ishiba said they agreed to step up strategic dialogue in the areas of defense and economic security.

The summit comes just days after the two leaders signaled their conciliatory approach to each other.

A joint statement after Saturday's summit, the first such in 17 years, said the two leaders agreed to look toward the future even as Tokyo reiterates its “deep remorse and heartfelt apology” over Japan's brutal colonial rule.

In his address last week marking the liberation from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, Lee called for the two sides to overcome past grievances while also urging Tokyo to face unresolved issues and strive to maintain trust.

Also, Lee told Japan’s conservative Yomiuri newspaper in an interview published Thursday, that he will stick to previous agreements with Japan on the forced labor issues and sexual abuses of the so-called “comfort women,” though many Koreans still harbor hard feelings.

Ishiba, who has acknowledged Japan’s wartime aggression and shown empathy toward Asian victims, expressed “remorse” over the war, which he called a mistake, restoring the word in a Japanese leader’s Aug. 15 surrender anniversary address for the first time since its 2013 removal by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at joint press announcement with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (not in the picture) after the summit in Tokyo, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks at joint press announcement with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (not in the picture) after the summit in Tokyo, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, meets Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, meets Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, right, arrive at the Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, center left, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, center right, arrive at the Haneda airport in Tokyo, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, center left, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, center right, arrive at the Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban soldiers wearing white gloves marched out of a plane on Thursday carrying urns with the remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela as trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport.

Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of the Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies of colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The shoes of Cuban soldiers clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, next to Revolution Square, with the urns and placed them on a long table next to the pictures of those slain so people could pay their respects.

Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized in almost half a century.

Hours earlier, state television showed images of more than a dozen wounded people accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. Some were in wheelchairs.

The official announcer indicated that they were “combatants” who had been “wounded” in Venezuela. They were greeted by the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez, and the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera.

Those injured and the bodies of those killed arrived as tensions grow between Cuba and U.S., with President Donald Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.

Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb as commander of Cuba's Armed Forces, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those slain looking on nearby.

Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casa said Venezuela was not a distant land for those killed, but a “natural extension of their homeland.”

“The enemy speaks to an audience of high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy,” Álvarez said in apparent reference to the U.S. “We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother.”

Álvarez called those slain “heroes,” saying that they were example of honor and “a lesson for those who waver.”

“We reaffirm that if this painful chapter of history has demonstrated anything, it is that imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.

Thousands of Cubans lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.

“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” said Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, adding that she hopes no one invades given the ongoing threats.

When asked why she showed up despite the difficulties Cubans face, Gómez replied, "It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”

Cuba recently released the names and ranks of 32 military personnel — ranging in age from 26 to 60 — who were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the raid on his residence on January 3. They included members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the island’s two security agencies.

Cuban and Venezuelan authorities have said that the uniformed personnel were part of protection agreements between the two countries.

Meanwhile, a demonstration was planned for Friday across from the U.S. Embassy in an open-air forum known as the Anti-Imperialist Tribune. Officials have said they expect the demonstration to be massive.

“People are upset and hurt. There’s a lot of talk on social media; but many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.

In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a Cubana de Aviación civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders living in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes returning to their island.

In December 1989, officials organized “Operation Tribute” to honor the remains of more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in the war that defeated the South African army and ended the apartheid system. In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.

A day before the remains of those slain arrived in Cuba, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced $3 million in relief aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa, which struck in late October.

The first flight took off from Florida on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.

“We have taken extraordinary measures to ensure that this assistance reaches the Cuban people directly, without interference or diversion by the illegitimate regime,” Rubio said, adding that the U.S. government was working with Cuba's Catholic Church.

The announcement riled Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.

“The U.S. government is exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes,” he said in a statement. “As a matter of principle, Cuba does not oppose assistance from governments or organizations, provided it benefits the people and the needs of those affected are not used for political gain under the guise of humanitarian aid.”

Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)