{"id":2200419,"date":"2023-03-16T13:48:23","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T04:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2200419"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:07:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:07:55","slug":"yoon-travels-to-tokyo-seeking-reset-between-south-korea-and-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/03\/yoon-travels-to-tokyo-seeking-reset-between-south-korea-and-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoon travels to Tokyo seeking reset between South Korea and Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol <\/span>left<\/span><\/a> for Tokyo on Thursday morning for a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The trip follows Seoul\u2019s <\/span>tentative proposal to resolve<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to colonial-era grievances over forced labor issues, which strained relations between the two countries for years.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoon\u2019s visit marks the first bilateral presidential trip to Japan in more than 11 years. Although President Moon Jae-in <\/span>visited<\/span><\/a> Japan in 2019, it was for a Group of 20 (G20) summit, not a bilateral visit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But as Seoul and Tokyo seek a reset, significant challenges lie ahead for both Yoon and Kishida.<\/span><\/p>\n DETERIORATING TIES<\/b><\/p>\n ROK-Japan ties hit a nadir after South Korea\u2019s Supreme Court opted to allow individuals to pursue claims against the country\u2019s former colonizer \u2014 specifically, survivors and families of Korean people who were forced to work for the Imperial Japanese war machine in the 1940s.<\/span><\/p>\n The court <\/span>ruled<\/span><\/a> in favor of these claimants in 2018 and <\/span>froze<\/span><\/a> the assets of two Japanese firms \u2014 Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi \u2014 implicated in forced wartime labor. Tokyo objected and <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> at the time that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga would not visit South Korea unless Seoul would guarantee that Japanese assets seized in a South Korean court ruling to compensate wartime forced laborers would not be liquidated.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the Yoon administration put forward a plan \u2014 albeit a controversial one \u2014 to resolve the issue with a public foundation funded by South Korean businesses, such as POSCO, which was one of the corporate beneficiaries of the 1965 treaty that normalized diplomatic relations between the two countries.<\/span><\/p>\n Japan has long maintained that that treaty resolved all reparation issues that resulted from its occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. As such, Yoon\u2019s plan does not include participation by Japanese firms or an apology from the Japanese government \u2014 both of which are <\/span>core demands<\/span><\/a> of the victims.<\/span><\/p>\n South Korean voters appear unsupportive of the deal, but Yoon has pushed ahead nonetheless and now finds himself in a position to begin rebuilding ties directly with the Japanese prime minister himself. Yoon <\/span>described<\/span><\/a> his \u201cdetermination\u201d to move toward a \u201cfuture-oriented relationship\u201d between South Korea and Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n Yoon has stressed the importance of improving the bilateral ties with Tokyo to effectively counter North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. For instance, ROK government officials have frequently mentioned the need to \u201c<\/span>normalize<\/span><\/a>\u201d the General Security of Military Intelligence Agreement (GSOMIA), a military intelligence sharing pact signed by Seoul and Tokyo in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n On the other hand, ROK officials have not spoken much about the possibility of Japan lifting <\/span>export restrictions<\/span><\/a> that it imposed on South Korea in 2019 after the Supreme Court decision.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Japan\u2019s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> the export curbs are separate from the forced labor dispute.<\/span><\/p>\n The controls limit the export of materials needed for semiconductor manufacturing. After the U.S. Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act, which <\/span>negatively impacts<\/span><\/a> South Korean chip manufacturers in China, ROK officials are keen to improve trade relations with Tokyo.<\/span><\/p>\n