Japanese Prime Minister Kishida's No-Mask Speech: "Korea Is an Important Neighbor... We Will Restore Relations"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reiterated his intention to improve Korea-Japan relations by stating on the 23rd in a National Diet speech that he will communicate closely with South Korea.

In his policy speech at the regular Diet session, Prime Minister Kishida said, "We will communicate closely to restore and further develop Korea-Japan relations into a healthy relationship based on the friendly cooperative relationship since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1965, with South Korea, an important neighboring country with which we must cooperate to address various challenges in the international community." This is his second expression of willingness to improve Korea-Japan relations, following his statement of conviction speech at the extraordinary Diet session on October 3 last year.

Generally, the policy speech at the regular Diet session announces the national agenda for the new year, while the statement of conviction speech at extraordinary or special Diet sessions conveys the direction of national governance.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is delivering the policy speech for the regular Diet session on the 23rd without wearing a mask.

This change is presumed to be influenced by the two Korea-Japan summits held last year and the recent rapid progress in reaching an agreement on the forced labor compensation issue. When Prime Minister Kishida gave his policy speech on January 17 last year, he only mentioned, "Regarding South Korea, an important neighboring country, we will strongly demand appropriate responses based on Japan's consistent position." At that time, Japan's consistent position was interpreted as the claim that the South Korean court's ruling on forced labor compensation violated international law.

Meanwhile, the speech on this day was conducted without a mask, so-called 'no mask.' From this Diet session, the obligation to wear masks during speeches or questions in the plenary session was lifted, and Prime Minister Kishida stood at the Diet podium without a mask for the first time since his inauguration. On the 20th, the Japanese government announced that from this spring, COVID-19 will be managed like seasonal influenza (flu).