Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and members of a delegation sent by South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol pledged Monday to improve the two nation’s ties, which have sharply deteriorated over wartime issues, the delegation’s leader said.
The two sides agreed that they will “maintain and beef up” bilateral relations, and that they share the same ideas on freedom, democracy and a market economy, Chung Jin-suk, the delegation head and deputy speaker of the National Assembly, told reporters after holding talks with Hayashi at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo.
Hayashi said the two Asian countries need to develop ties based on friendship and cooperation and that he expects Yoon to exert leadership, according to a Japanese government official.
The delegation is on a five-day trip to Japan through Thursday ahead of Yoon’s inauguration on May 10, as expectations of an improvement in the Tokyo-Seoul relationship grow following the victory of the country’s main opposition candidate in the March presidential election.
Yoon is calling for a “future-oriented” approach, seeking to improve bilateral ties strained over issues related to wartime history including “comfort women” who suffered under Japan’s military brothel system before and during World War II, and compensation demanded by South Koreans for what they say was wartime forced labor.
The delegation also discussed the two governments’ historical feud stemming from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in a meeting with a cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers aimed at promoting friendly ties between the two nations.
The group of Japanese lawmakers said it feels sympathy with Yoon, who is focusing on a better relationship with Japan and the United States, at a difficult time for the regional security environment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a flurry of ballistic missile launches by North Korea since the start of this year.
The delegation asked senior members of the lawmakers’ group to attend Yoon’s inauguration ceremony.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told a news conference Monday that ties with South Korea were “of paramount importance” as North Korea’s “nuclear and missile development becomes more and more active.”
“As the international community faces a historic crossroads, we believe fostering healthy Japan-South Korean relationships is essential to realizing a rule-based international order,” he said, adding that the government has “high hopes for the leadership of the next South Korean president.”
Members of the South Korean delegation plan to meet with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is known for his hawkish views on security and heads the largest faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and his successor, Yoshihide Suga.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is also arranging a meeting with the delegation, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The delegation is believed to be carrying a letter to him from Yoon, who takes office on May 10.
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