Japan and South Korea resume bilateral talks for the first time since 2019

Asia-Pacific, News September 22, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held a one-on-one meeting in New York on September 21, 2022.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and agreed to work on improving the bilateral relations by moving past the historical disputes.

The South Korean President has been keen on improving Seoul’s relations with Tokyo since he came to power in May 2022. South Korea and Japan have had historical disputes on several issues ranging back to 1901 when Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula.

The latest wave of tensions between the two countries stirred in 2018 when South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered two Japanese firms Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel, to compensate Korean workers for their forced labor practices during World War II. In response, Tokyo said that the issue of compensation was settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing diplomatic and warned of serious repercussions if the orders were enforced. In the same year, South Korea also dismantled a Japanese-funded foundation that war helping the victims of World War II, escalating the tensions even further.

With the changing regional geopolitical landscape and North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, South Korea is seeking to improve its bilateral relations with regional stakeholders. Japan has also stressed on improving strategic cooperation with South Korea in order to minimize the threat of a nuclear war in the Korean Peninsula.

According to the deputy spokesperson of the South Korean President’s office Lee Jae-myung, “The two leaders agreed on the need to improve relations by resolving pending issues, for which they agreed to accelerate diplomatic talks while continuing discussions between themselves.”

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addressing the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 20, 2022 — ^{South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (R) addressing the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 20, 2022. (Image Credit: Reuters/collage by IRIA)}

The meeting between the two leaders lasted for almost 30-minutes and it was dubbed an informal interaction by both sides. Press Secretary of Japan’s Foreign Ministry Hikariko Ono said the two leaders “shared the need to bring back the sound bilateral relationship with the resolution of various issues.”

She further said that the two sides agreed on developing a relationship in a “future-oriented manner based on the foundation of the friendly and cooperative relationship that both countries built since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1965.”

The two leaders also came face-to-face with each in a trilateral meeting arranged by U.S. President Joe Biden during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Madrid in June this year, however, no bilateral meeting was arranged between the two sides since 2019.