Observers recommend that, within the close to time period, Japan-South Korea relations are more likely to be extra instrumental than strategic in nature.
TOKYO/SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung paid a two-day go to to Japan earlier this week, throughout which he held bilateral talks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
While the Japanese aspect portrayed the assembly as a diplomatic success, statements from each leaders underscored important divergences on points like regional safety. Additionally, long-standing territorial and historic disputes stay unresolved. Observers recommend that, within the close to time period, Japan-South Korea relations are more likely to be extra instrumental than strategic in nature.
DIVERGING SIGNALS
Takaichi welcomed Lee with a proper bow upon his arrival, in accordance with South Korean media. Their talks lasted roughly 90 minutes and lined financial cooperation, regional safety, synthetic intelligence and historic points.
Yonhap News Agency famous that delicate subjects such because the “comfort women” concern, compensation for pressured labor, and the sovereignty dispute over Dokdo (known as Takeshima by Japan) weren’t formally addressed throughout the assembly.
Although Tokyo performed up the assembly’s outcomes, statements launched by the 2 leaders signaled clear divergence. At a joint press convention, Takaichi referred to as for strengthening trilateral cooperation amongst Japan, South Korea and the United States on regional safety, whereas Lee careworn the significance of broader cooperation amongst international locations in Northeast Asia.
Min Jeong-hun, a professor on the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, noticed that the leaders’ opening remarks mirrored divergent views. Takaichi described Japan-South Korea relations as having “strategic importance” for regional stability, whereas Lee averted adopting that framing, as a substitute stressing the cooperation beneath the present worldwide order.
Japanese analysts believed Takaichi sought to make use of the summit to deflect criticism over her authorities’s diplomatic challenges and to counter perceptions that Japan has turn out to be more and more remoted within the area.
Domestic political concerns are additionally at play. Takaichi is getting ready to dissolve the decrease home later this month and name a snap election, a vital check for her administration. Amplifying the importance of the assembly could assist showcase her international coverage credentials forward of the vote, analysts mentioned.
TERRITORIAL DISPUTE REMAINS
Analysts additionally argued that structural tensions between the 2 neighboring international locations persist, significantly over the disputed islets, referred to as Dokdo by South Korea and Takeshima by Japan.
In December 2025, Takaichi advised Japan’s parliament that the islets constituted Japan’s “inherent territory” from the views of historic reality and worldwide legislation.
The remarks triggered sturdy backlash in South Korea, with the presidential workplace reaffirming that Dokdo is unequivocally South Korean territory traditionally, geographically, and beneath worldwide legislation. Major South Korean media shops condemned Takaichi’s feedback as provocative and damaging to bilateral relations.
Japan’s annual celebration of the so-called “Takeshima Day” on Feb. 22 stays one other flashpoint. Japanese authorities officers routinely attend the occasion, drawing sturdy protests from South Korea.
Since taking workplace, Takaichi has declined to rule out upgrading the extent of official participation, a stance extensively seen as a possible set off for renewed diplomatic friction.
Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported that for the Lee administration, there’s nearly no room for compromise on territorial points.
HISTORICAL ISSUES UNRESOLVED
At the joint press convention, each leaders introduced settlement on cooperation to get better and determine the stays of victims from the Chosei coal mine, an undersea mine in Yamaguchi prefecture, which skilled flooding in 1942 and claimed the lives of 183 individuals. The victims included 136 Koreans who had been forcibly mobilized.
Cho Jin-goo, a researcher at South Korea’s Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, famous that this incident is nearly the one historic concern presently manageable for bilateral dialogue, largely as a result of Japanese victims have been additionally concerned and home requires decision have lengthy existed in Japan.
By distinction, points comparable to “comfort women” and compensation for pressured labor stay deeply contentious between the 2 sides and are successfully excluded from the bilateral agenda, the knowledgeable added.
Ahead of the summit, South Korean civic teams held protests in Seoul, urging Japan to confront points associated to “comfort women” and Dokdo.
A day earlier than his go to, Lee advised Japanese public broadcaster NHK that issues persist inside South Korea about whether or not deep mutual belief might be established, given Japan’s historical past of aggression.
Analysts from each international locations famous that the go to relied on quickly shelving disputes quite than resolving them. Given the present Japanese authorities’s stance on historic points and its confrontational safety outlook, bilateral ties are possible, within the brief time period, to stay instrumental quite than strategic in nature.