Top Japanese officials and South Korean delegation agree to improve bilateral ties

Japanese Cabinet ministers and members of a delegation sent by South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol agreed Monday to make efforts toward improving bilateral ties, which have sharply deteriorated in recent years over wartime issues.

A series of meetings between Yoon’s representatives and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, as well as the defense and industry policy chiefs, could pave the way for the South Korean group’s meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida despite opposition by some of the members in his ruling party, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

Hayashi and the delegation agreed in their meeting that they will “maintain and beef up” bilateral relations and that they share the same ideas on freedom, democracy and a market economy, Chung Jin-suk, the delegation head and deputy speaker of the National Assembly, told reporters after the talks at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo.

Hayashi said the two Asian countries need to develop ties based on friendship and cooperation and that he expects Yoon to exert leadership, according to a Japanese government official.

The delegation is on a five-day trip to Japan through Thursday ahead of Yoon’s inauguration on May 10, as expectations of an improvement in the Tokyo-Seoul relationship grow following the victory of the country’s main opposition candidate in the March presidential election.

Yoon is calling for a “future-oriented” approach, seeking to improve bilateral ties strained over issues related to wartime history including “comfort women” who suffered under Japan’s military brothel system before and during World War II, and compensation demanded by South Koreans for what they say was wartime forced labor.

During the administration of incumbent President Moon Jae-in, ties between Tokyo and Seoul have sunk to their lowest point in years over a historical feud stemming from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

The two nations have also been at odds over South Korean-controlled, Japanese-claimed islets known as Takeshima in Japan and as Dokdo in South Korea, as well as over Tokyo’s restrictions on semiconductor material exports to South Korea in July 2019, seen as retaliation for the Moon administration’s handling of the wartime history-related issue.

Seoul has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against Japan imposing the export controls.

Defense-related tensions between the countries were also heightened following an incident in December 2018 when the South Korean Navy allegedly locked its fire-control radar on a Self-Defense Forces patrol plane in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers aiming to help promote friendly ties between the two nations met the delegation. It said it sympathizes with Yoon, who is focusing on a better relationship with Japan and the United States at a difficult time for the regional security environment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a flurry of ballistic missile launches by North Korea since the start of this year.

The delegation asked senior members of the lawmakers’ group to attend Yoon’s inauguration ceremony.

Later in the day, the delegation met with Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, who said he will strive to establish close communication with Yoon’s administration and stressed the importance of the trilateral cooperation that includes the United States to deal with North Korean threats, according to a Defense Ministry official.

During their stay in Japan, members of the South Korean delegation plan to meet with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who heads the largest faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and his successor, Yoshihide Suga.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda and the delegation members took up the issue of export controls in their talks, an industry ministry official told reporters. Japan maintains its stance that there can be no negotiations on the issue unless Seoul retracts its complaint with the WTO, the official added.