Japan-S. Korea Summit Meeting: 2 Countries Should Aim for Relations That Will Not Backtrack

Editorial

15:00 JST, September 7, 2024

The underlying tone of improvement in Japan-South Korea relations, which had been described as “at the worst level since the end of World War II,” is largely due to the political decisions of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

It is important to make this trend take root and deepen cooperation between the two countries as mutually trustworthy neighbors.

The prime minister has visited Seoul and held talks with Yoon. Looking ahead to next year, which will mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea, the two leaders agreed to promote cooperative projects in a wide range of fields, including the economy, security and youth exchange.

Japan and South Korea agreed to cooperate in using each other’s methods of transportation if there is a need to evacuate their citizens from a third country in the event that the situation there deteriorates.

This was the 12th in-person meeting between the two leaders. It was also the fifth reciprocal visit between Japan and South Korea since resuming them. Both figures can be said to be unprecedentedly high.

Kishida’s trip to South Korea, his last such visit as prime minister, is intended to pave the way for Japan-South Korea relations so as not to go backward even after he leaves office.

In addition to China and Russia, North Korea is believed to possess nuclear weapons. With Japan’s security environment becoming ever more unstable, maintaining good relations with South Korea is of vital importance to Japan.

Japan-South Korea relations took a turn for the better in March last year when the Yoon administration proposed a solution plan to the issue of lawsuits involving former wartime requisitioned workers from the Korean Peninsula.

Under the plan, a foundation under the South Korean government would pay an amount equivalent to the compensation on behalf of the defendant Japanese companies, and 11 out of 15 former requisitioned workers or their families have received such money so far.

After the plan was presented, both countries eased export controls, which had become more strict, and resumed exchanges between the business communities.

The Yoon administration has shown understanding regarding the release of treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean, saying that there is no scientific problem.

The improvement in relations between the two governments has also had a positive impact on public sentiment. According to a joint public opinion survey conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun and South Korean newspaper Hankook Ilbo in May, the percentage of respondents who said the current state of Japan-South Korea relations was “good” reached the 50% mark for the first time in 13 years among Japanese respondents and exceeded 40% for the second consecutive year among South Korean respondents.

However, there are still factors that could reverse this trend.

Four plaintiffs in the lawsuits continue to reject the South Korean government’s solution plan. In addition, there have been a series of further court rulings in South Korea ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation.

Yoon’s term in office will last until 2027, but the opposition parties have criticized his policy toward Japan as “humiliating diplomacy,” and his political base cannot be called solid.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 7, 2024)