South Korean President Lee Desires Stronger Relationship of Trust With Japan, Said to View Former Korean President Moon as Example of What Not to Do

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:39 JST, August 21, 2025

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who intends not to let historical problems between his country and Japan affect present-day cooperation in fields such as security and the economy, is said to regard former President Moon Jae-in as a good example of what not to do. Moon, who like Lee was a left-leaning leader, was in office from 2017 to 2022.

Moon attacked Korean conservatives as “pro-Japanese vested interest groups” and boasted of his intention to settle scores in connection with “deep-rooted evils.” He also disbanded a foundation set up to support former so-called comfort women, effectively nullifying the 1995 Japan-South Korea agreement that created it, under which both countries had acknowledged a “final and irreversible settlement” of the issue.

When the South Korean Supreme Court in 2018 ordered Japanese firms to pay compensation to South Korean nationals who sued over being forced to work for the companies during World War II, he did not present measures to correct the decision, leaving the situation in violation of international law.

In 2019, Moon strongly opposed to the Japanese government’s imposition of tightened controls on exports to South Korea. This prompted the so-called No-Japan movement among the Korean public, in which people refused to buy Japanese products or travel to Japan. At this time Japan-South Korea relations deteriorated to what was described as their worst level of the postwar era.

Many experts believe that Moon worsened his country’s relationship with Japan as a result of attaching too much importance to theories, which are said to be particular to South Korean leftist politicians, which link the roots of the country’s domestic problems with Japan’s past colonization of Korea.

Yet, Lee, who emphasizes the need for a “pragmatic and national interest-centered approach,” is regarded as a type of politician totally antithetical to Moon, whose failures Lee reportedly has told his aides he wants to avoid repeating.

Past South Korean administrations, both conservative and left-wing, have often sought to buoy themselves by taking hardline anti-Japanese policy stances, to which the nation’s public is highly responsive.

But in speaking to The Yomiuri Shimbun, President Lee indicated that he intends to draw a line between past administrations and his own and gain Japan’s trust.

“We are pleased that President Lee has showed a positive stance toward Japan. We hope his actions will match his words,” said a senior Japanese government official.