Japan’s Yoshihide Suga urges better ties during first talks with South Korea’s Moon Jae-in

The new Japanese prime minister had a 20-minute phone conversation with the South Korean president, amid strained relations between the neighbours

They also agreed to work together on issues such as North Korea and allowing business travel despite coronavirus restrictions

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, held their first telephone call on Thursday. Photo: AP

Published: 6:40pm, 24 Sep 2020Updated: 10:40pm, 5 Oct 2020

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday that relations between the neighbouring countries – which have been strained by a diplomatic feud over wartime labour – need to be improved.

Speaking to reporters following his first conversation with Moon since taking office last week, Suga said Japan and South Korea are “extremely important neighbours” but that bilateral ties are in a “very difficult situation” and need mending.

“I told President Moon that we cannot allow our relations to remain as they are,” he said.

Bilateral ties have remained frayed since South Korea’s top court in October 2018 ordered a Japanese steelmaker to compensate four Koreans for labour during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean peninsula through the end of World War II.

Tokyo argues the court ruling violates a 1965 agreement under which Japan provided South Korea with financial aid on the understanding that the compensation issue was settled “completely and finally”, and warned that selling assets seized from the steelmaker Nippon Steel will further aggravate the situation.

Suga told Moon that it was up to Seoul to create an opportunity for Japan and South Korea to “return to a constructive relationship”, according to a Japanese official who briefed reporters, continuing the hardline stance taken by his predecessor Shinzo Abe.

Moon said the countries are “the closest of friends that share basic values and strategic benefits”, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said, and that despite their differing positions on the wartime labour issue, they should seek an “optimum” solution that would be acceptable for all involved parties.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is seen talking on the phone with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at his office in Seoul on September 24. Photo: AFP

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