'Japanese Special Envoy' Park Jiwon, "Leaders Must Meet to Resolve"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] Park Ji-won, Director of the National Intelligence Service, met with Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and reportedly urged efforts by both leaders to improve relations, stating that "Korea-Japan relations should not remain as they are now."

As Korea-Japan relations have struggled to find an opportunity to break out of the prolonged deadlock, attention is focused on whether Park's meeting with Prime Minister Suga will serve as a new momentum.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to diplomatic sources on the 13th, Park met separately with Prime Minister Suga in Tokyo on the morning of the previous day, around the time of the trilateral meeting of intelligence chiefs from Korea, the U.S., and Japan, which included Avril Haines, Director of the U.S. National Intelligence (DNI), and Takiizawa Hiroaki, Japan’s Cabinet Intelligence Director.

At this meeting, Park reportedly told Prime Minister Suga, "The two leaders must meet to untangle the complicated Korea-Japan relations like a tangled thread." Prime Minister Suga is also said to have expressed agreement with Park’s remarks.

Park and Prime Minister Suga also reportedly agreed on the importance of trilateral cooperation among Korea, the U.S., and Japan regarding the Biden administration’s new North Korea policy and the issue of North Korean denuclearization.

Additionally, local media reported that Park shared the same intention to "work towards improving Korea-Japan relations" during a phone call with Nikai Toshihiro, the Secretary-General and the 'second-in-command' of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on the same day.

In this context, there is speculation that Park’s role as a special envoy for improving Korea-Japan relations will be further expanded. Park had also visited Prime Minister Suga in November last year.

At that time, Park conveyed President Moon Jae-in’s will to normalize Korea-Japan relations and proposed a new Korea-Japan joint declaration following the 1998 ‘Kim Dae-jung-Obuchi Declaration.’

Shin Beom-chul, Director of the Foreign and Security Center at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, said, “Substantial improvement in Korea-Japan relations is uncertain as the Korean government has not responded to Japan’s demands for action on issues such as forced labor and comfort women. However, it can be evaluated that the Korean government’s efforts to improve Korea-Japan relations indicate a direction toward actual improvement.”