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The shadow of two previous brutal wars – and the potential consequences of one raging in Eastern Europe – hung over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he arrived in Japan for the opening of the G7 leaders’ summit.
The day began in South Korea with a memorial and a steep hike along a newly built road in Gapyeong, the scene of the April 1951 battle of Kapyong, the first desperate battle involving Canadian soldiers during the Korean War.
The day ends in Hiroshima, Japan, the city that was destroyed by an atomic bomb in August 1945 when the world’s first tactical nuclear weapon was used by the United States.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida deliberately chose his hometown as the venue for the Group of Seven leaders’ meeting to highlight the risks the world faces from nuclear confrontation. Russia has threatened on more than one occasion to use tactical nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.
Trudeau’s closely watched visit to Gapyeong, about 50 kilometers northwest of Seoul, saw him pave the way for so-called peace in the rugged landscape of the former battlefield. The hiking trail connects the former Canadian position and ends at the top of Hill 677, which is a strategic position of Chinese forces trying to overrun during the drive to take Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
The attack was halted by a Commonwealth brigade, consisting of Canadian and Australian troops, supported by US tanks.
“It was a very important battle at a crucial point in the war,” said Andrew Burtch, a historian at the Canadian War Museum. “Had it not gone well, it could have been a very different outcome for South Korea and that’s one of the reasons we are reminded of the importance of Canadian military history.”
More than 500 Canadians died in the Korean War
The prime minister’s visit on Thursday is significant because, unlike the European battlefields, few Canadian politicians have set foot in Korea. During the Korean War, 516 Canadians were killed, including 10 at Kapyong.
“It’s an undocumented area, maybe other wars — wars that were more costly during the First and Second World Wars, but that resonated long after the guns stopped,” Burtch said.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War, a fact that also made Trudeau’s brief visit to the strip significant. He took part in a brief wreath-laying ceremony before hiking the trail to the top where he mingled with some students from the Canadian curriculum private school, CMIS Canada.
Another reminder of the war, more dire, appeared when Trudeau touched down in Hiroshima where nuclear disarmament was almost considered an article of faith, especially for Japan’s prime minister.
“Kishida is doing well,” said Chris Johnstone, an expert on Japan at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“He recognizes the need for a nuclear umbrella, Japan’s dependence on full US deterrence; which is more important than ever, frankly, in today’s security environment, but he still upholds this vision, if you will, of a world without nuclear weapons. .”
Many atomic bomb survivors have told Japanese media that they hope the leaders of western democracies will change their perception of nuclear weapons by walking on the ground where they were used.
Roland Paris, a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa, said the world is in a precarious situation because many of the arms control agreements that safeguarded the potential use of nuclear weapons have been lost.
“Many of the mechanisms that helped stabilize the nuclear world since the Cold War, during the Cold War, those mechanisms have been broken,” Paris said.
“This nuclear arms control agreement has fallen by the wayside. There is more and more nuclear, saber rattling.
“I think the fact that this summit will be held in Hiroshima will have a great symbolic meaning.”
If anything, Paris said, the G7 summit could provide momentum to renegotiate some agreements that have fallen by the wayside.
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