Negotiators from both companies reportedly spent considerable time each insisting the other choose the meeting time first
SEOUL A cross-border payment network partnership between Japanese and Korean fintech firms was reportedly delayed by several weeks not due to any substantive disagreement, but because negotiating teams from both companies spent an extended period each deferring politely to the other regarding basic meeting scheduling.
How This Scheduling Standoff Actually Unfolded
According to a source familiar with the negotiations, each side’s proposed meeting times were met with genuinely gracious counter-deferrals, both teams apparently determined not to appear presumptuous about setting terms, a mutual courtesy that produced, ironically, considerable practical delay.
The Specific Email Exchange That Reportedly Illustrates This
Sources describe a chain running several messages deep, each side expressing genuine flexibility and deference to the other’s preferred schedule, without either side actually proposing a concrete time that could move the process forward.
How the Impasse Was Eventually Resolved
A junior staffer on one team reportedly simply proposed a specific date directly, breaking the cycle of mutual deference, an intervention colleagues describe as “genuinely necessary and somewhat heroic given how long the politeness loop had been running.”
What Both Companies Say About the Actual Partnership Now
Genuinely positive, both sides confirming the underlying cross-border payment collaboration remains on strong footing, the scheduling delay having reflected mutual respect rather than any substantive tension between the parties.
Whether This Kind of Delay Is Actually Common in Regional Business Culture
Several cross-border business consultants note this specific dynamic, excessive mutual deference producing practical delay, recurs often enough in the region that some now explicitly build in a designated “someone just picks a time” protocol for future negotiations. Further Korea Japan business coverage continues at bohiney.com.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com
