Officials and observers believe concerns over North Korea’s rising capabilities and China’s rivalry motivate South Korea’s desire to address historical disagreements to improve relations with Japan.
President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet in Tokyo on Thursday for the first time in almost a decade.
The two sides will work to resolve historical problems from the 1910-1945 Japanese rule of Korea. Still, North Korea and other security coordination and economic cooperation to strengthen supply networks may yield the most progress.
“At a critical time, this breakthrough serves as another example of how the web of likeminded alliances and partnerships in the region is tightening in the face of regional threats,” said Christopher Johnstone, head of the Japan program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former National Security Council official under U.S. President Joe Biden.
North Korea has already launched many missiles, and massive South Korea-U.S. military drills that infuriate Pyongyang are taking place the same week as the meeting.
“At this time of a polycrisis with North Korean nuclear and missile threats intensifying and global supply lines being interrupted,” Yoon told foreign media Wednesday.
Experts think South Korea and Japan’s November agreement to share real-time intelligence on North Korea’s missile launches will help them detect possible threats.
South Korea’s sensors usually see a missile launch, whereas Japan monitors its landing.
“We must deepen ROK-U.S.-Japan security cooperation to counter North Korea’s ever-more advanced nuclear and missile threats,” Yoon added.
Yet, such collaboration does not imply a military alliance with Japan.
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