Will Yoon visit Japan for summit to mend frayed ties?

• Published date: 06 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

As the South Korean government announced its resolution on the wartime forced labor issue, Monday, chances are growing that President Yoon Suk Yeol will visit Japan within this month and consolidate his idea for trilateral security cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo to be the linchpin for countering North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

There is growing expectation for a summit with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after the Korean government proposed Monday to compensate South Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor via a Seoul-based public foundation, which Kishida welcomed saying the move will help mend relations between the two neighbors.

According to government sources, the South Korean presidential office and diplomatic authorities of Seoul and Tokyo are coordinating on Yoon's visit to Japan, which could happen as early as this month.

Given that Japan is about to pass its government budget for the 2023 fiscal year, and Prime Minister Kishida is planning a three-day visit to India from March 19, Yoon's visit to Tokyo, if it takes place, will likely be during the last week of the month.

An official of the presidential office said talks have not begun for a South Korea-Japan summit, but chances are high.

"After former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda visited South Korea in November 2011 and former President Lee Myung-bak visited Japan the following month, the reciprocal visits between the two countries' leaders have been suspended for 12 years," the official said. "With the two countries' governments acknowledging this, chances are open for negotiations on this matter."

"Consultations between diplomatic authorities of South Korea and Japan are now in their final stages," Korea's National Security Director Kim Sung-han told reporters Sunday. "There will be an official announcement at the appropriate time, if important measures for opening a new era in Korea-Japan relations are established."

Kim continued that if the forced labor issue is addressed, the two countries will be able to improve bilateral ties and trilateral cooperation involving the United States. "For this, the two countries' leaders should meet and cut the Gordian knot, and then take care of pending issues in a prompt manner," Kim said. Cutting the Gordian knot refers to solving intractable problems in a quick and decisive manner.

One of the Seoul-Tokyo frictions that can be resolved is Japan's export restrictions on key industrial materials to South Korea.

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