Here’s why President Yoon Suk Yeol visited Japan
On Thursday, Yoon Suk Yeol, President of South Korea, visited Japan hoping to start a “new chapter” just hours after Pyongyang released a long-range ballistic missile.
The launch, the third this week from North Korea, served as a vibrant reminder of the security risks in the region that have forced Seoul and Tokyo to work out their differences and seek to portray a united front.
Yoon Suk Yeol trip reached after this month Seoul declared a plan to balance Korean victims of Japan’s wartime-caused labour without any explicit involvement by Tokyo.
Reports indicate the visit might herald the restart of shuttle diplomacy, such as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida possibly asking Yoon to the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May and also visiting Seoul.
Since his last year elections, Yoon has made it obvious that resetting relations with Japan are a main focus.
He called the 2-day visit, which will have the 1st full-scale leaders’ summit among the sides in 12 years, “an important step forward”.
“I am sure that the Japanese government will join us in opening a fresh chapter of Korea-Japan relations,” he stated during an interview with AFP as well as other media this week.
“I hope that the individuals of both nations will move forward together toward fortune rather than fight over the past.”
But history has loomed large in regards, particularly atrocities committed during Japan’s 35-year colonial power, such as the use of wartime sex slaves — euphemistically termed “comfort women” — and to forced labour.
Relations reached a low point in 2018 when a South Korean court ordered Japanese companies to compensate victims of forced labour as well as their families.
Japan rejected the ruling, claiming that colonial-era conflicts had been settled in 1965 while diplomatic ties were normalized.
Tokyo provided Seoul with loans and financial support worth $800 million at the time – equivalent to many billion dollars today.
Get all the latest news of Saurashtra on Indian daily post.
