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Will Japanese PM Kishida accept Yoon’s olive branch?

President shows interest in mending Korea-Japan ties; now ball is in Japan’s court

By Nam Hyun-woo namhw@koreatimes.co.kr

MADRID — President Yoon Sukyeol actively expressed his willingness to sit down with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a summit in an apparent move to thaw chilly bilateral relations, whenever he had chances to speak to the Japanese leader at the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain.

Throughout the summit, Yoon encountered Kishida a total of five times: first at a gala dinner on Tuesday; then during four-way talks among NATO’s partners in the Asia-Pacific, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand (informally known as the Asia-Pacific Four or AP4); then in a trilateral summit among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo; next at a photo session among the AP4 leaders and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg; and finally in a summit between NATO members and the Asia-Pacific partner countries.

Yoon actively expressed his hopes for improving Seoul-Tokyo ties in a straightforward manner.

During their meeting at the gala dinner, Yoon told Kishida he wants to “resolve issues that stand in the way of improving Seoul-Tokyo ties as soon as possible after Japan’s upper house election, in order to establish future-oriented bilateral relations.” Kishida responded favorably that he also hopes for “a healthier relationship.”

Their exchange of diplomatic words came after the botched Yoon-Kishida summit on the sidelines of the NATO event.

Earlier this month, Seoul’s presidential office had said that chances were unlikely for a Seoul-Tokyo summit in Spain, because Japan will hold an upper house of parliament election on July 10. Since a summit between South Korea and Japan is bound to entail discussion of historical issues, which is a sensitive subject for both sides, the summit having results that are favorable to Seoul could negatively affect the sentiment of Japanese voters — especially conservatives — watchers said.

So, according to the presidential office, conditions for a possible Seoul-Tokyo summit would be better after the elections in Japan.

After discussing regional issues with Kishida at the four-way talks among the Asia-Pacific partner countries a day later, Yoon told reporters that he was “convinced that Prime Minister Kishida is a partner with whom he can resolve thorny issues together to improve bilateral ties.” His favorable comment about the Japanese prime minister shows Yoon’s intention to be more active in improving the bilateral ties.

Despite Yoon’s willingness, watchers said mending Seoul-Tokyo ties will be a waiting game. Except for the indirect encounters, the two leaders didn’t sit down in bilateral talks or even a brief pull-aside meeting. The four-way talks among NATO’s four Asia-Pacific partner countries were also set up at the last minute, because the participating countries had difficulties narrowing their differences over the meeting, officials said.

“Though it is difficult to specify, Japan appears to have sought to hold the four-way talks in an official format, as the country might want to show off such a scene to its people before its elections,” a senior official at the presidential office said. “For South Korea, however, it was more reasonable to have the meeting as an occasion to freely share leaders’ opinions and materialize common goals if any.”

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s remarks during his meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden, Wednesday (local time), are creating a stir here as Kishida floated the idea of holding a trilateral military drill, which South Korea has been sensitive about.

On the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain, the three heads of state sat down together for the first time in nearly five years. Korea and Japan, both of whom are not members of the military alliance, attended the meeting as the organization’s Asia-Pacific partners.

While stressing the need to strengthen three-way cooperation on North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats, Kishida suggested that they prepare for possible provocations through a combined military drill that has never happened due to the historical animosity between Seoul and Tokyo.

“I think it was very timely to hold the Japan-U.S.-South Korea summit this time. … We also welcome the agreement on the implementation of missile alert training and ballistic missile detection and tracking training by the three countries at their recent defense ministers’ meeting,” he said in his introductory remarks.

The cited missile tracking exercise, named Pacific Dragon, will be staged in waters off Hawaii in August, but Canada and Australia will also participate.

“If a nuclear test is conducted, I would like to respond in partnership with the United States and South Korea through trilateral cooperation, including joint military training,” Kishida added.

Furthermore, Kishida said he would like to strengthen Japan’s own defense capabilities drastically in order to strengthen the deterrence and coping capabilities of the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Given that Kishida is an advocate of revising Japan’s Constitution to allow the country to rearm itself and engage in war as a means to solve disputes, which has been outlawed since 1947, his remarks are seen as a move to declare that Japan will play a stronger military role in regional security, which critics would call a return to militarism.

For the U.S.’ part, Washington is supporting Japan boosting its military capabilities as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at containing China, but Korea has remained cautious about Japan’s rearmament, which would lead to a trilateral military alliance, as the alliance would allow Japan’s self-defense forces to intervene in an emergency situation on the Korean Peninsula — something that South Korea cannot accept due to Japan’s colonial occupation of South Korea from 1910 to 1945.

In that respect, the previous Moon Jae-in administration was committed to bolstering its military alliance with the U.S., while remaining negative about the trilateral alliance with Japan.

The military authorities are skeptical of the trilateral exercise, describing it as “unrealistic.”

“It is an issue that falls on political decision,” said a military officer on the condition of anonymity.

“Given that Japanese forces could set foot on South Korean soil, which could face a public backlash, Korea’s political stance cannot drastically change,” the officer continued.

However, given that Yoon hinted during his election campaign that South Korea may allow the Japanese military to intervene in matters related to the peninsula, it remains to be seen if he may do an about-face on the issue.

Of significance, Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, is a figure who is positive about forming a military alliance between South Korea and Japan, so it may be that the Japanese side pushes strongly for the trilateral military alliance.

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2022-07-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thekoreatimes.pressreader.com/article/281539409649443

The Korea Times Co.