TOKYO, March 16 (Portal) – Japan and South Korea on Thursday agreed to settle a nearly four-year-old trade dispute over high-tech materials, a strong sign they aim to rebuild a history-strained relationship and oppose the deepening of the Security collaborate 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 amid frequent North Korean missile launches.
Japan will lift restrictions on its exports of critical materials for smartphone displays and chips to South Korea, while Seoul drops a World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint against Tokyo, South Korea’s trade ministry said.
Tokyo imposed the restrictions in 2019 as tensions deepened over a decades-old dispute with Seoul. Thursday’s announcement is likely to be taken as a sign of Yoon’s and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s desire to form a united front against rising regional tensions and work together on supply chains. In doing so, they seek to put behind years of hostility sparked by Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
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The urgency of regional security and the threat posed by North Korea were underscored in the hours before Yoon’s arrival, when the North fired a long-range ballistic missile that landed in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Yoon has said he expects to “revive” security cooperation and the two leaders are preparing to confirm the resumption of a bilateral security dialogue that has been suspended since 2018, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Tokyo and Seoul are also expected to revive “shuttle diplomacy” through regular visits between the leaders, according to a daily report by Yomiuri, which cites Japanese government sources.
Still, Japan remains cautious about immediate improvements in ties, with a Japanese government official, who asked not to be identified, saying that “Japan-South Korea relations are improving, but it’s still a gradual process.”
Yoon is also faced with skepticism at home. In a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday, 64% of respondents said there was no reason to improve relations with Japan unless its stance changes, and 85% said they thought the current Japanese Government do not apologize for Japan’s colonial history.
Despite the strains, economic ties are strong. According to the IMF, the two were each other’s fourth-largest export markets in 2021. Japanese exports to South Korea totaled $52 billion, while South Korean exports totaled $30 billion, the data showed.
NEW REMINDER
In a renewed reminder of longstanding tensions, two South Korean victims of wartime forced labor have filed a lawsuit demanding compensation from Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T), their representatives said on Thursday.
Relations between the two countries have been strained over the war labor issue and disputed islands, and Korean girls and women forced to work in Japan’s wartime brothels made headway last week as Seoul announced a plan for its companies to compensate former slave laborers . The victims who filed the lawsuit reject this plan.
Kishida has welcomed the labor compensation and said he hopes Yoon’s visit will strengthen ties.
Japan’s biggest business lobby, Keidanren, said it and its South Korean counterpart, the Federation of Korean Industries, have agreed to set up foundations aimed at “forward-looking” bilateral ties.
Park Hong-keun, leader of South Korea’s main opposition party, said Yoon’s visit must not end with “his trip down memory lane,” and asked Yoon to receive a genuine apology and resolution from Japan on forced labor issues 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 then agreed to share real-time information on North Korea’s missile launches, which experts say will help both countries better track potential threats.
Japan said in a defense strategy paper released in December that the “strategic challenge posed by China is the greatest Japan has ever faced.” Tokyo fears 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 islands in the East China Sea on Wednesday to counter what it calls Japanese ships entering Chinese territorial waters.
Reporting by Sakura Murakami and Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo, Josh Smith and Ju-min Park in Seoul; Edited by David Dolan and Gerry Doyle
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