South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Japan on Thursday seeking to open a “new chapter” in relations, simply hours after Pyongyang fired a long-range ballistic missile.
The launch, North Korea’s third this week, was a potent reminder of the regional safety challenges which have pushed Seoul and Tokyo to patch up variations and attempt to kind a united entrance.
Yoon’s journey comes after Seoul this month introduced a plan to compensate Korean victims of Japan’s wartime compelled labour with none direct involvement by Tokyo.
Experiences counsel the go to might herald the restart of shuttle diplomacy, together with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida probably inviting Yoon to the G7 summit in Hiroshima in Could, after which visiting Seoul.
Since his election final 12 months, Yoon has made it clear that resetting ties with Japan is a high precedence.
He referred to as the two-day journey, which can embody the primary full-scale leaders’ summit between the edges in 12 years, “an necessary step ahead”.
Learn extra: Marriages fell on this nation to document low. Its delivery price is world’s lowest
“I’m assured that the Japanese authorities will be part of us in opening a brand new chapter of Korea-Japan relations,” he mentioned in an interview with AFP and different media this week.
“I hope that the individuals of our two international locations will now transfer ahead collectively towards the longer term somewhat than confront over the previous.”
However historical past has loomed massive in relations, significantly atrocities dedicated throughout Japan’s 35-year colonial rule, together with the usage of wartime intercourse slaves — euphemistically termed “consolation ladies” — and compelled labour.
Relations reached a nadir in 2018 after a South Korean courtroom ordered Japanese corporations to compensate victims of compelled labour and their households.
Japan rejected the ruling, arguing that colonial-era disputes had been settled in 1965, when diplomatic ties have been normalised and Tokyo gave Seoul loans and financial assist then price about $800 million — equal to a number of billion {dollars} immediately.