South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have agreed to step up cooperation between the neighbours, whose relations are occasionally strained, as they both face growing uncertainty and regional challenges.
“I believe cooperation between Korea and Japan is now more important than ever and anything else, as we have to continue moving forward to a new, better future amid this complex, unstale international order,” Lee said at the outset of the summit on Tuesday.
Takaichi said she has renewed her determination to further improve Japan’s relations with South Korea “as I believe the two countries should cooperate and contribute for stability in the region.”
“This year, I will elevate Japan-South Korea relations even higher,” said Takaichi, who aims to secure stable ties with Seoul while Tokyo struggles with a worsening dispute with China.
The meeting could deliver a political win as Takaichi seeks to shore up her power. A few months after taking office, she enjoys strong approval ratings, but her party has a majority in only one of two houses of Parliament. There is growing speculation she may be planning a snap election in hopes of gaining more seats.
Takaichi is hosting Lee in her hometown, Nara, an ancient capital known for its treasured deer and centuries-old Buddhist temples, following a request by Lee during the October Apec meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Nara, the centre of cultural exchanges between the Korean Peninsula and Japan in ancient times, “carries a special meaning at a time when Korea-Japan exchanges are more important than ever,” Lee said.
Takaichi will today take Lee on a tour of Horyu Temple, which includes buildings from the late 7th or early 8th century. They are among the world’s oldest surviving wooden architecture and illustrate Japan’s adoption of Buddhism via the Korean Peninsula.
Lee also will meet with South Korean residents in Japan before returning home this afternoon.
Japan’s cultural, religious and political ties to the Korean Peninsula are ancient, but in modern times, their relationship has been repeatedly disrupted by disputes stemming from Japan’s brutal colonial rule of Korea from 1910-1945.
Takaichi was in Nara on Monday to prepare and posted on X: “I hope to further push forward Japan’s relations with South Korea in the forward-looking way as we meet in the ancient capital of Nara with more than 1,300 years of history and longstanding cultural exchanges between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.” — AP
