South Korea, Japan seek to deepen cooperation for ‘world peace’ amid North Korea threat
- President Yoon Suk-yeol, welcoming Japan’s PM Fumio Kishida to landmark summit, said unresolved historical issues should not block deepening ties
- Discussions included threat from Pyongyang and Japan’s planned release of treated radioactive water from crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Sunday that he agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that the two countries will join hands to address growing security threats in Asia, including North Korea’s missile and nuclear development.
After their summit in Seoul, Yoon also said at a joint press conference that the two leaders agreed to send experts to conduct a scientific analysis before releasing treated radioactive water into the sea from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The men’s meeting was held in South Korea as part of the restarting of reciprocal visits.
Japan-South Korea ties reached their lowest point in decades under the left-wing administration of Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-in, over wartime issues that included a labour compensation row, preventing the two countries from pursuing critical diplomatic negotiations.
But unresolved historical disputes should not block South Korea and Japan from deepening ties in the face of international crises, Yoon said on Sunday.
Kishida’s visit – the first formal talks in over a decade involving a Japanese leader in Seoul – returns the trip Yoon made to Tokyo in March, where they sought to close a chapter on the historical disputes that have dominated Japan-South Korea relations for decades.
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At the outset of the summit, which was open to the media, Yoon told Kishida, “Our mutual visit took less than two months,” adding, “I think it clearly shows that South Korea-Japan ties are progressing at a fast speed.”
Kishida responded that dialogue “has been moving dynamically” for the past two months, as the two leaders have been trying to dispel the dark atmosphere.
“Cooperation and coordination between South Korea and Japan are essential not only for the common interests of the two countries but also for world peace and prosperity in the face of the current severe international situation,” Yoon said in opening remarks.
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Kishida said that his “heart aches” over South Korea’s colonial-era suffering, as he hailed fresh efforts to mend Tokyo’s long-strained ties with Seoul at the landmark summit.
“My heart aches as many people went through a very difficult and sad experience in the harsh environment at that time,” the Japanese leader said.
One sticking point in ties between Seoul and Tokyo in recent years involved court rulings in South Korea ordering two Japanese companies to financially compensate some of their ageing former Korean employees for colonial-era forced labour.
The verdicts angered Japan, which argued that all compensation issues were already settled when the countries normalised ties in 1965.
Kishida has invited Yoon to the Group of Seven (G7) summit set for later this month in Japan and for trilateral talks with the US on the sidelines.
Kishida will also urge for trilateral talks with China as early as this year, Kyodo reported on Friday, citing multiple unnamed diplomatic sources.
“We have a lot of opportunities to cooperate when it comes to addressing the threat of North Korea” and securing a free and open Indo-Pacific, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
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The focus of the Seoul summit between the two US allies was expected to revolve around security cooperation in the face of North Korea’s nuclear threats, with a particular eye on American interests in the region, said Shin-wha Lee, a professor of international relations at the Seoul-based Korea University.
“Their military and economic capabilities are crucial for promoting multilateral regional security cooperation, and a poor relationship between the two countries could obstruct US objectives,” she said.
The pledge to boost cooperation between Japan and South Korea has been welcomed by the United States as a way to better confront threats from North Korea and competition from China.
Additional reporting by Kyodo, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press
