South Korea Calls Japan Important Neighbor

Jiji Press

10:42 JST, June 8, 2023

Seoul (Jiji Press)—The administration of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol unveiled a national security strategy Wednesday that described Japan as an important neighbor.

The strategy said that Japan and South Korea share such universal values as freedom, democracy and human rights.

The two countries achieved the goal of improving bilateral ties in a visible way, the strategy said, citing Seoul’s announcement in March of measures to resolve a wartime labor dispute with Tokyo and the resumption of mutual visits by Japanese and South Korean leaders.

Japan and South Korea will create a new future while looking at the past by upholding the spirit of their 1998 joint declaration that called for deepening friendly ties between the two countries, the strategy said.

The national security strategy under the previous administration of former South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Seoul would respond firmly to unjust Japanese claims over history and a disputed group of islands in the Sea of Japan.