South Korean delegation meets top Japanese diplomat in bid for warmer ties

Overseas Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and members of a delegation despatched by South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol pledged Monday to enhance the 2 nation’s ties, which have sharply deteriorated over wartime points, the delegation’s chief mentioned.

The 2 sides agreed that they’ll “preserve and beef up” bilateral relations, and that they share the identical concepts on freedom, democracy and a market financial system, Chung Jin-suk, the delegation head and deputy speaker of the Nationwide Meeting, advised reporters after holding talks with Hayashi on the Overseas Ministry in Tokyo.

Hayashi mentioned the 2 Asian international locations must develop ties primarily based on friendship and cooperation and that he expects Yoon to exert management, in response to a Japanese authorities official.

The delegation is on a five-day journey to Japan by way of Thursday forward of Yoon’s inauguration on Could 10, as expectations of an enchancment within the Tokyo-Seoul relationship develop following the victory of the nation’s principal opposition candidate within the March presidential election.

Yoon is looking for a “future-oriented” method, in search of to enhance bilateral ties strained over points associated to wartime historical past together with “consolation girls” who suffered underneath Japan’s army brothel system earlier than and through World Struggle II, and compensation demanded by South Koreans for what they are saying was wartime compelled labor.

The delegation additionally mentioned the 2 governments’ historic feud stemming from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in a gathering with a cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers aimed toward selling pleasant ties between the 2 nations.

The group of Japanese lawmakers mentioned it feels sympathy with Yoon, who’s specializing in a greater relationship with Japan and the USA, at a troublesome time for the regional safety surroundings following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a flurry of ballistic missile launches by North Korea for the reason that begin of this yr.

The delegation requested senior members of the lawmakers’ group to attend Yoon’s inauguration ceremony.

Deputy Chief Cupboard Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki advised a information convention Monday that ties with South Korea had been “of paramount significance” as North Korea’s “nuclear and missile improvement turns into an increasing number of energetic.”

“Because the worldwide group faces a historic crossroads, we imagine fostering wholesome Japan-South Korean relationships is important to realizing a rule-based worldwide order,” he mentioned, including that the federal government has “excessive hopes for the management of the following South Korean president.”

Members of the South Korean delegation plan to satisfy with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is understood for his hawkish views on safety and heads the biggest faction throughout the ruling Liberal Democratic Occasion, and his successor, Yoshihide Suga.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can be arranging a gathering with the delegation, in response to sources with data of the matter. The delegation is believed to be carrying a letter to him from Yoon, who takes workplace on Could 10.