The leaders of South Korea and Japan weren’t imagined to get alongside.
President Lee Jae Myung earned his stripes in a political celebration that was lengthy skeptical of rapprochement with Japan, which brutally oppressed Korea as a colonial ruler. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has a fame for arguing that Japan’s wartime atrocities, together with on the Korean Peninsula, have been exaggerated.
But when Mr. Lee and Ms. Takaichi maintain a summit assembly in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday, it will likely be their third since October.
Right here’s what to find out about Ms. Takaichi’s two-day journey.
What’s the historical past of Korean-Japanese ties?
Though South Korea and Japan are each key U.S. allies, they’ve steadily clashed over historic and territorial disputes rooted in Japan’s colonial rule over Korea from 1910 to 1945. The US has lengthy urged each nations to depart these grievances behind and to work collectively to assist comprise China’s increasing navy and financial affect.
(Over the weekend, President Trump known as each Ms. Takaichi and Mr. Lee to transient them on his talks with the Chinese language chief, Xi Jinping, in Beijing final week.)
Relations hit a low point round 2019 when the 2 governments revived a bitter dispute over the legacy of so-called consolation ladies — Korean ladies compelled into sexual slavery for the Japanese navy throughout World Conflict II.
However Mr. Lee’s predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, repaired ties with Tokyo, arguing that historic variations shouldn’t hinder cooperation in opposition to safety threats from North Korea and China. Whereas Mr. Yoon received reward from Washington, he confronted intense home backlash, particularly from Mr. Lee’s Democratic Social gathering, which was then the primary opposition. Mr. Yoon was finally faraway from workplace following his brief imposition of martial law.
Mr. Lee, a fierce critic of Mr. Yoon, won the presidency final June. 4 months later, Ms. Takaichi turned Japan’s first female prime minister.
Observers in Seoul, Tokyo and Washington feared that Korean-Japanese relations had been poised to show frosty once more.
How did the 2 leaders get alongside?
Mr. Lee and Ms. Takaichi stunned the skeptics.
Upon taking workplace, Mr. Lee championed pragmatism as a pillar of his diplomacy — an method that concerned strengthening the normal alliance with Washington whereas concurrently bettering relations with China and North Korea. It additionally meant he wouldn’t enable historic grievances to face in the way in which of a more in-depth partnership with Japan.
Quickly after Ms. Takaichi took workplace, she met with Mr. Lee in Gyeongju, South Korea. Mr. Lee visited her hometown, Nara, in January. A particularly symbolic moment of their growing relationship got here when Ms. Takaichi, an novice heavy steel drummer, invited Mr. Lee — who had no drumming expertise — to affix her in enjoying alongside to Ok-pop hits, together with “Dynamite” by BTS and “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters.”
Mr. Lee later invited Ms. Takaichi to his hometown, Andong in central South Korea — an historic metropolis as soon as famend for the Confucian students who served in royal courts.
Inside South Korea, and inside Mr. Lee’s personal Democratic Social gathering, voices have grown in recent times calling for nearer cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo to handle world provide chain disruptions and deepening geopolitical uncertainty, together with the quickly shifting international coverage of the Trump administration.
“Geopolitically, South Korea and Japan have all of the extra motive to work collectively to uphold a rules-based worldwide order in mild of Russia and North Korea’s sanctions-violating navy transactions, China’s expansionist insurance policies in Asia, and commerce uncertainties associated to Trump’s tariffs and battle within the Center East,” mentioned Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of worldwide research at Ewha Womans College in Seoul.
What’s on the menu?
South Korean officers are keen to construct on the nice will between the 2 leaders. Mr. Lee’s workplace introduced that Ms. Takaichi can be acquired on Tuesday with “honors and courtesies equal to these accorded throughout a state go to.”
The summit scheduled that day will tackle urgent geopolitical challenges, together with North Korea’s nuclear risk and the battle in Iran. Large breakthroughs are unlikely. However Mr. Easley mentioned the assembly might present momentum for talks geared toward decreasing bureaucratic and logistical boundaries to joint protection workout routines, contingency planning, and useful resource sharing in abroad missions comparable to maritime safety operations close to the Strait of Hormuz.
Later, the leaders will share a extra relaxed second over a dinner that includes Andong-style braised hen — a dish beloved in Korea — paired with Andong soju and Nara sake. They are going to then go to Andong’s Hahoe Folks Village, a UNESCO World Heritage website recognized for its conventional tiled homes, to see performances of Korean music and a fireplace artwork show.
“Crucial factor is to deepen private friendship and belief between the leaders,” Wi Sung-lacMr. Lee’s nationwide safety adviser, mentioned on the eve of Ms. Takaichi’s journey. “There are numerous pending points between the 2 international locations stemming from the previous, and public sentiment stays delicate. However we imagine that if the leaders construct a strong friendship and belief, it is going to assist resolve troublesome points.”
