Will the Yoon Administration Be Able to Improve Korea-Japan Relations?

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] As President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol moves to strengthen diplomacy with Japan, expectations for improving bilateral relations are rising.

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is delivering a greeting at the disbandment ceremony of the Presidential Transition Committee held on the afternoon of the 6th at the Presidential Transition Committee in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by the Transition Committee Press Corps

Although Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio will not attend the inauguration ceremony on the 10th, high-ranking officials such as Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa will visit Korea, raising the possibility of an opportunity to resolve pending Korea-Japan issues.

According to diplomatic sources on the 8th, the Japanese government announced that Foreign Minister Hayashi will be dispatched to President-elect Yoon's inauguration ceremony on the 10th.

Along with former Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio, known as a pro-Korea figure, ministerial-level officials are scheduled to be dispatched. This visit by the Japanese Foreign Minister to Korea is the first in about four years since then-Foreign Minister Kono Taro visited Korea in June 2018 during the Korea-US-Japan foreign ministers' meeting.

Since the South Korean Supreme Court's forced labor compensation ruling against Japanese wartime companies in October 2018, relations between the two countries have cooled, and the COVID-19 pandemic further complicated high-level exchanges.

However, compared to past inauguration ceremonies, the rank of dispatched officials has lowered. In 2008, during President Lee Myung-bak's inauguration, Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo visited Korea in person, and in 2013, then-Deputy Prime Minister Aso Taro, who had served as Prime Minister, was dispatched to President Park Geun-hye's inauguration.

President Moon Jae-in's inauguration was held in a simplified manner without a transition period, so no officials were dispatched.

President-elect Yoon is expected to attempt to improve bilateral relations with Japan through this visit by high-ranking Japanese officials. He is likely to meet with former Prime Minister Hatoyama and Foreign Minister Hayashi immediately after his inauguration. Foreign Minister nominee Park Jin is also expected to meet with Foreign Minister Hayashi.

During meetings with Foreign Minister Hayashi, President-elect Yoon and nominee Park are expected to emphasize their commitment to improving Korea-Japan relations. This is urgent as the United States stresses Korea-US-Japan cooperation to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and to check China.

However, diplomatic circles view resolving Korea-Japan issues as challenging. Complex problems such as forced labor, Japan's export restrictions, the comfort women issue, and the UNESCO World Heritage registration of Sado Mine?a forced labor site during the Japanese colonial period?are intertwined.

Japan's firm stance on key issues is also a variable. Japan maintains its basic position that "South Korea violated agreements, so bring solutions" regarding forced labor and comfort women issues.