ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture--New South Korean Ambassador to Japan Shin Kak-soo visited the quake-hit regions of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, and Fukushima on June 16.
ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture--New South Korean Ambassador to Japan Shin Kak-soo visited the quake-hit regions of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, and Fukushima on June 16.
Shin, 56, has fond memories of the Tohoku region, where he traveled as a student, and said earlier that he was shocked and saddened by media reports from the devastated area.
"I will consider what kind of support South Korea can extend to Japan," he added.
Shin, who started his new post June 10, visited Ishinomaki and was briefed about the damage by the city's Vice Mayor Etsuro Kitamura, the pair standing on high ground to view the coastal area that was swept barren by the March 11 tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Shin also visited the city's Kadowaki Elementary School, which was damaged by the earthquake, tsunami and fire, and offered a bouquet of flowers.
"The tsunami was gravely devastating," Shin said. "We need to establish a system to prevent such widespread damage."
When he was a student, Shin took a ferry from Busan to Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and headed north to Sendai. He said his first trip to Japan as ambassador would be to the disaster-stricken areas in the Tohoku region.
"I wanted to see it with my own eyes," he said.
Shin also visited the Fukushima prefectural government office and spoke with Governor Yuhei Sato about the status of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
"If the present situation was correctly conveyed, tours to Fukushima from South Korea will recover," Shin said.
Shin also visited Iwate Prefecture, one of the three hardest-hit prefectures by the disaster, on June 17.