South Korea president arrives in Japan to open ‘new chapter’

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Yoon Suk Yeol In Japan: Yoon Suk Yeol’s trip comes after Seoul this month announced a plan to compensate Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labour without any direct involvement by Tokyo.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Japan on Thursday looking to open a “new chapter” in relations, just hours after Pyongyang fired a long-range ballistic missile.

The launch, North Korea’s third this week, was a potent reminder of the regional security challenges that have pushed Seoul and Tokyo to patch up differences and try to form a united front.

Yoon’s trip comes after Seoul this month announced a plan to compensate Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labour without any direct involvement by Tokyo.

Reports suggest the visit could herald the restart of shuttle diplomacy, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida possibly inviting Yoon to the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May, and then visiting Seoul.

Since his election last year, Yoon has made it clear that resetting ties with Japan is a top priority.

He called the two-day trip, which will include the first full-scale leaders’ summit between the sides in 12 years, “an important step forward”.

“I am confident that the Japanese government will join us in opening a new chapter of Korea-Japan relations,” he said in an interview with AFP and other media this week.

“I hope that the people of our two countries will now move forward together toward the future rather than confront over the past.”

But history has loomed large in relations, particularly atrocities committed during Japan’s 35-year colonial rule, including the use of wartime sex slaves — euphemistically termed “comfort women” — and forced labour.

Relations reached a nadir in 2018 after a South Korean court ordered Japanese firms to compensate victims of forced labour and their families.

Japan rejected the ruling, arguing that colonial-era disputes had been settled in 1965, when diplomatic ties were normalised and Tokyo gave Seoul loans and economic aid then worth about $800 million — equivalent to several billion dollars today.