South Korea and Japan to drop trade dispute as security concerns trump history

Japan and South Korea agreed to put an almost four-year-old trade dispute on high-tech materials there, an emphatic sign they aim to rebuild relations strained by history and work together against deepening security threats.

The announcement came during Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Japan on Thursday, the first for a South Korean president in 12 years, as the two neighbors seek common ground in the face of North Korea’s frequent missile launches.

Japan will remove curbs on exports to South Korea of ​​critical materials for smartphone displays and chips, while Seoul will drop a World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint against Tokyo, officials from both sides said.

Tokyo imposed curbs in 2019 as decades-long tensions with Seoul deepened. Thursday’s announcement may be seen as a sign of Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s desire to show unity against regional tensions and cooperation in the supply chain. In doing so, he wanted to leave behind the years of hostility caused by the 1910-1945 Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula.

The urgency of regional security and the threat posed by North Korea were emphasized in the hours before Yoon’s arrival, when North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile that landed in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan.

Yoon said he hoped to “revive” security cooperation and the two leaders were ready to confirm the resumption of bilateral security dialogue that has been suspended since 2018, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK.

Tokyo and Seoul are also expected to revive “shuttle diplomacy” from regular visits between the leaders, according to a Yomiuri daily report citing Japanese government sources.

Always in a relationship

Still, Japan remains cautious about immediate improvements in relations, with a Japanese government official who requested anonymity saying that “Japan-South Korea relations are improving, but it is still a step-by-step process.”

Yoon also faces skepticism at home. In a poll by Gallup Korea published on Friday, 64 percent of respondents said there is no need to rush to improve relations with Japan if there is no change in its attitude, and 85 percent said they think the Japanese government is now unapologetic. Japanese colonial history.

Despite the tensions, economic ties are strong. The two are the fourth largest export markets in 2021, according to the IMF. Japan’s exports to South Korea totaled US$52 billion, while South Korea’s exports totaled US$30 billion, the data showed.

In a fresh reminder of long-standing tensions, two victims of South Korean forced labor have filed a lawsuit, seeking compensation from Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 7011.T, their representative said on Thursday.

Relations between the two countries, which have been strained over wartime labor issues as well as disputed islands, and Korean girls and women forced to work in Japanese brothels during wartime Japan, made progress last week when Seoul announced plans to company- the company is to compensate for the forced ex. worker The victim who filed the lawsuit denied the plan.

Kishida has welcomed the labor compensation move and said he hopes to “strengthen relations” with Yoon’s visit.

Japan’s largest business lobby, Keidanren, said it and its South Korean counterpart, the Federation of Korean Industries, agreed to launch a foundation aimed at “future-oriented” bilateral relations.

Park Hong-keun, the floor leader of South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party, said Yoon’s visit should not stop at a “trip down memory lane,” and called for Yoon to apologize and for a real resolution from Japan on the forced labor issue he raised during his trip.

The two leaders also met in November on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Cambodia.

South Korea and Japan at the time agreed to exchange real-time intelligence on North Korean missile launches, which experts said would help both countries better track potential threats.

Japan said the “strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest challenge Japan has ever faced” in a defense strategy paper released in December. Tokyo worries that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has set a precedent that will encourage China to attack self-governing Taiwan.

China’s coast guard entered waters around disputed East China Sea islands on Wednesday to counter what it said were Japanese ships entering China’s territorial waters.