Japan PM to Hold First Formal Summit in Seoul in a Decade

Jon Herskovitz
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- The leaders of Japan and South Korea are set to hold their first formal summit in Seoul in 12 years, seeking to mend ties that hurt trade and security cooperation between the two US allies.

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Japan and South Korea formally announced the visit Tuesday, saying they see the two-day trip as a way to restore shuttle diplomacy. The main talks between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol are set for Sunday, Japan’s government said.

Regular summits had been halted by political acrimony and Kishida told reporters during a visit to Ghana this week that his meeting with Yoon would be a good opportunity to “exchange views on the ways to deepen bilateral relations in a rapidly changing international situation.”

The trip is part of a new push between the neighbors looking to restore relations that plunged to new depths in recent years. The friction caused headaches for the US, which needs the cooperation of the two Asian powerhouses to advance Washington’s global economic agenda and to bolster their joint security against the likes of North Korea and China.

The rift was largely due to fights over whether Japan justly compensated Koreans forced to work in Japanese mines and factories during the country’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the peninsula. The relationship worsened in 2019 when Japan removed South Korea from its preferential trading list, leading to reciprocal action.

Read: Why South Korea-Japan Ties Are Plagued by History: QuickTake

Yoon in March unveiled a proposal to end the dispute by planning to have South Korean firms pay into a fund offering compensation for conscripted Korean workers. The payments were meant to avoid forcing Japanese companies to provide compensation, in line with Tokyo’s contention that all such claims were settled under a 1965 agreement.

President Joe Biden’s administration welcomed the move, calling it a “groundbreaking” deal. Yoon also went to Tokyo a few weeks after rolling out the plan for the first formal summit on Japanese soil by a South Korean leader since 2011.

In the wake of the deal, South Korea reinstated Japan to its list of preferred trading partners in April, a major step in mending ties that aligned with Washington’s efforts to create a global supply chain less reliant on China.

Last week, Japan’s trade ministry started seeking public opinions on restoring South Korea to Tokyo’s list of preferred trading partners, in a procedural step that would eventually streamline the export processes to South Korea.

The last visit by a Japanese premier to South Korea came in 2018 when then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the opening of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and held talks separately with then President Moon Jae-in. The last formal summit in Seoul by a Japanese leader was in October 2011, according to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Yoon returned to Seoul a few days ago from a trip to the US, where he reached a deal in talks at the White House with Biden that would increase South Korea’s say in how America deploys its nuclear umbrella and assurances it would be used to retaliate against a North Korean strike. Japan is also reliant on the US nuclear umbrella for its protection.

Yoon is due to have talks with Kishida and Biden later this month when the three hold a trilateral meeting at the Group of Seven nations summit to be held in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Ahead of the summit, the secretary general of Japan’s National Security Secretariat, Takeo Akiba, is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Wednesday for economic security talks with his counterpart Cho Tae-yong that will focus on subjects including securing supply chains, South Korea’s presidential office said. It will be the first visit to Seoul by the Japanese national security adviser since 2014, the office added.

--With assistance from Takashi Hirokawa and Jeong-Ho Lee.

(Updates with visit from official in last paragraph.)

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