Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on March 16, the first summit in 12 years, heralding a new chapter in bilateral relations between the two neighbor countries.
The summit is hailed as part of efforts to rebuild security and economic ties in the face of threats from China and North Korea, two nuclear-armed countries.
But President Yoon has faced a severe backlash from the major opposition party Democratic Party of Korea (DP) and critics.
At a joint press conference at the Japanese Prime Minister’s residence following the summit, President Yoon said, “The summit is a first step to overcome an unhappy history of both countries and open a new era of Korean-Japanese cooperation by inheriting the spirit of a joint declaration by former Korean president Kim Dae-jung and ex-Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi.”
In 1998, President Kim and Prime Minister Obuchi declared a new Korean-Japanese partnership of the 21st century, bringing about great changes in Korean-Japanese ties, such as Korea’s full-fledged opening of the Japanese public culture.
DP lawmakers and critics have launched an offensive against the outcomes of the Korean-Japanese summit talks.
DP raised the suspicion that President Yoon could have made unannounced concessions to Japan, following some Japanese news outlets’ reports that both sides took up topics, such as Korea’s islets of Dokdo, Japan’s wartime sexual slavery and Seoul’s import ban on fisheries products from Japan’s Fukushima.
The opposition party blasted President Yoon against compensating victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor on its own without asking Japan for contributions.
In an apparent warning to opposition parties, President Yoon said there are political forces who seek to capitalize on nationalist and anti-Japanese sentiment.
In a cabinet meeting on March 21, President Yoon said Korea and Japan must leave the past behind and move forward. The Office of the President hailed President Yoon’s visit to Japan from March 16-17 “a big success.”
Presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon on March 19 said at a briefing, “The evaluation that the latest summit is a crucial starting point in shifting Korea-Japan ties toward a future-oriented relationship is common from the international community as well as both nations.”
“If diplomacy is about opening the heart of the other side and turning the tide in bilateral or multilateral relations, this visit to Japan by President Yoon was a big success.”
In a meeting with the president on March 17, former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said, “The president apparently had domestic political issues, but decided to visit Japan this time,” adding, “I highly applaud this decision made for the benefit of both countries and again welcome it.”
“During his visit to Japan, an atmosphere of cooperation arose in both nations, rare in Korea-Japan relations,” he said. “As a political leader, President Yoon made a pivotal decision for the future of bilateral ties.
Something.” In a related development, Japan said it will lift restrictions on the export of three semiconductor components to Korea for the first time in 44 months.
In return, Seoul will withdraw its complaint filed against Tokyo with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on March 16 said Japan will scrap its restrictions on the export of fluorine polyimide, hydrogen fluoride and photoresist to Korea.
The two sides decided to closely discuss measures to swiftly put Korea back on Japan's whitelist of countries receiving preferential treatment in applications for permits or procedures for export of cutting-edge technology and electronic components.
In July 2019, Japan objected to the Supreme Court of Korea's ruling on compensation for Koreans forced to work by Japan during the latter's occupation of the Korean Peninsula. In retaliation, Tokyo imposed restrictions on the export of three components to its neighboring country.
In August 2019, Japan removed Korea from its whitelist and Seoul filed a complaint with the WTO the following month.
Earlier in October and November 2018, the Supreme Court of Korea ruled that the Japanese companies Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries must pay compensation to Koreans forced to work for Japan during the latter’s colonial rule of the peninsula.
The ruling said the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Settlement Agreement, a bilateral government-level accord, did not exclude an individual’s right to file a claim.
