South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held their fourth assembly in about six months on Tuesday, underscoring their push to deepen ties between the historic Asian rivals within the face of geopolitical challenges.
Lee hosted Takaichi in his hometown of Andong, a southeastern South Korean metropolis well-known for a centuries-old conventional people village that may be a UNESCO World Heritage web site. In January, the 2 met in Takaichi’s hometown of Nara, an historical Japanese capital.
The conferences marked the primary time sitting leaders of the 2 nations have visited one another’s hometowns.
South Korea’s presidential workplace expressed hope that Tuesday’s summit would strengthen mutual belief between Lee and Takaichi. Takaichi instructed reporters earlier Tuesday she hopes the talks will deepen cooperation “under the severe geopolitical conditions such as situations in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.”
The summit’s official agenda consists of financial and vitality cooperation, the Iran struggle and improvement of their bilateral ties, which haven’t any present sticking factors. Experts say the assembly probably will proceed easily and the connection will stay on a optimistic trajectory for now.
“The two countries put more emphasis on agenda for cooperation than contentious issues,” mentioned Choi Eunmi, a Japan knowledgeable on the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “They would now think scenes of constantly fluctuating relationship or eventually negative bilateral ties won’t be helpful to anyone now.”
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is greeted upon arrival at Daegu International Airport in Daegu, South Korea, on Tuesday. Image: Yoon Kwan-shick/Yonhap by way of AP
South Korea and Japan are each key U.S. allies with vibrant democracies. But their relationship has lengthy skilled extreme ups and downs over grievances stemming from Japan’s 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula earlier than the tip of World War II.
Relations started enhancing in 2023 when Lee and Takaichi’s predecessors took steps to maneuver past historical past disputes and strengthen cooperation, saying they confronted widespread challenges just like the U.S.-China strategic competitors, provide chain vulnerabilities and North Korea’s advancing nuclear arsenal.
When Lee and Takaichi every took workplace as new leaders final 12 months, observers anxious about Takaichi’s fame as a right-wing safety hawk and anticipation that Lee, a political liberal, would tilt towards North Korea and China and away from the U.S. and Japan. But they’ve maintained cooperation, even in some unprecedented methods.
In August, two months earlier than Takaichi’s inauguration, Lee grew to become the primary South Korean chief to decide on Japan as his first vacation spot for a bilateral summit. At the tip of their assembly in January, Lee and Takaichi drummed to Okay-pop hits corresponding to BTS’ “Dynamite” in a jam session organized by the Japanese chief, a heavy steel fan who was a drummer in her faculty days.
Lee has mentioned he and Takaichi share a view that nationwide leaders should act in another way than atypical politicians. But many observers say the 2 leaders additionally probably really feel the necessity to tighten cooperation as a result of they’ve extra grave geopolitical difficulties than their predecessors corresponding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s America-first coverage and world financial injury attributable to the Iran struggle.
South Korea and Japan each have pledged a whole lot of billions of {dollars} in U.S. enterprise investments. Trump’s tariff struggle and his transactional strategy to safety threaten the belief within the U.S. held by many South Korean and Japanese.
Ties between Seoul and Tokyo are so delicate they may endure surprising setbacks in the event that they fail to formulate coping measures for explosive points corresponding to Japan’s colonial-era mobilization of Koreans as compelled laborers and intercourse slaves, based on specialists, who say wrangling over these points has eased as the 2 governments attempt to keep away from public discussions.
“Both countries aren’t talking about how to resolve and prevent recurrences of conflicts over those issues and we don’t know when they could occur again,” Choi mentioned.
Associated Press author Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.