5/28/2023 0 Comments Brave upholdThis summit offers a chance to repair years of broken trust. Getting these lifted was a top priority, briefed a senior government official ahead of Thursday's meeting. In 2019, when relations were particularly sour, Japan imposed export restrictions on the chemicals Seoul needs to build its semi-conductors. There are economic rewards to be reaped too. An invitation by the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to May's G7 summit in Hiroshima would be a mission accomplished. Instead he is looking outwards, across the Indo-Pacific, at the bigger role South Korea can play. President Yoon wants to end what he sees as his country's tunnel-vision over North Korea. This also signals a fresh chapter for South Korea's place in the world. The compensation deal incensed survivors of Japanese forced labour and opposition party members in South Korea With nuclear-armed North Korea becoming more dangerous, Seoul stands to benefit from sharing intelligence with Tokyo and having their militaries work together. Since taking office, he has made repairing this fractured relationship a cornerstone of his foreign policy. They see it as a brave and astute move, especially for a political novice, with no foreign policy experience. Diplomats here are quietly surprised and impressed. But it won President Yoon this trip to Tokyo. The opposition leader branded the deal the "biggest humiliation in our history". In doing so he sought to put aside the past for the sake of the security of northeast Asia. He agreed South Korea would raise the money instead. These scars, while no longer fresh, are not forgotten nor forgiven here.īut last week, President Yoon dropped the demand that Japan compensate some of the victims of its slavery. Yoon Suk Yeol, a political novice with no experience of foreign affairs, is trying to defuse decades of mistrust
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