South Korea eyes new Japan pact to mark 60 years of ties, but can it cement improving relations?

President Yoon Suk-yeol reportedly hopes to visit Japan and build on the 1998 Japan-ROK Joint Declaration that outlined a future-oriented relationship

Analysts say Tokyo remains wary that Yoon’s successor could walk away from an agreement, given the current ‘shortage of mutual political confidence’

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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (right) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after their meeting at the presidential office in Seoul in May last year. Photo: AP

Published: 8:21am, 19 Mar 2024

South Korea is reportedly sounding out Japan over the possibility next year of marking the 60th anniversary of the two resuming diplomatic relations with the signing of a new agreement to promote bilateral ties.

The relationship between Seoul and Tokyo has been fraught in recent years, primarily as a result of sharply differing interpretations of the two nations’ shared histories. But there has been gradual improvement in ties since Yoon Suk-yeol became South Korea’s president in May 2022.

Yoon’s hopes to further enhance the relationship were outlined in comments by a senior official from his office to foreign and domestic media earlier this month. Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper reported on March 13 that the official said Yoon hoped to visit Japan and that Seoul wanted to build on the 1998 Japan-Republic of Korea Joint Declaration, which outlined a future-oriented relationship.

The national flags of Japan and South Korea are displayed on the aircraft that flew Yoon to Tokyo’s Haneda airport in March last year for summit talks with Kishida. Photo: Kyodo

Officially, there has been no comment from Tokyo on the outreach from Seoul, but it is known that the two sides have been in discussions on a range of topics, including official visits.

Analysts caution, however, that while Tokyo favours better security and trade ties with its near-neighbour, it remains wary out of concern that any new administration after Yoon could walk back – or even walk away from – an agreement.

That is precisely what happened to the Japan-South Korea Comfort Women Agreement, they point out, which was signed by the foreign ministers of both countries in December 2015 and saw Japan provide 1 billion yen (US$6.7 million) to a foundation set up to compensate the 47 surviving former “comfort women” – a Japanese euphemism for wartime sex slaves – for their suffering.

Four years later, under a new government in Seoul, the foundation was dissolved and the agreement effectively annulled.

“The Japanese government, I think, is going to be very wary,” said Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Tokyo.

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