TOKYO -- President Lee Jae Myung arrived in Tokyo on Saturday for summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as he seeks to expand cooperation with Tokyo before his pivotal meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump early next week.

The Saturday summit with Ishiba comes before Lee will head for Washington for high-stakes summit talks with Trump, in a rare diplomatic decision for South Korean presidents, who typically choose Washington, a key defense ally, as their first diplomatic destination after taking office.

It would be Lee's second in-person meeting with Ishiba, following their encounter on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada in June.

In a joint written interview with four Japanese newspapers -- the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nikkei and the Sankei Shimbun -- released earlier in the day, Lee expressed hope to strengthen cooperation with Japan in the fields of security and economy.

Lee called his visit to Tokyo an opportunity to solidify the foundation for"future-oriented" ties as this year marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of the countries' diplomatic relations.

"Korea-Japan relations simultaneously contain aspects of confrontation, cooperation and mutual tolerance. What's important is to identify as many mutually beneficial elements as possible," he said in the interview."There is no need to abandon the beneficial aspects because of certain negative ones."

On Sunday, Lee is scheduled to meet Japanese lawmakers in the morning before departing for Washington for his summit with Trump the next day. (Yonhap)