TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung reaffirmed security cooperation between the two East Asian neighbours on Saturday (Aug 23), ahead of a summit Lee is to hold with US President Donald Trump on Monday.
On his first official visit to Japan since taking office in June, Lee met Ishiba at the premier’s residence in Tokyo to discuss bilateral ties, including closer security cooperation with the United States under a trilateral pact signed by their predecessors.
“Stable relations benefit both our countries and our region,” Ishiba said during an expanded round of summit talks. “It is also crucial that we strengthen our trilateral alliance with the US.”
The snap election victory of the liberal Lee – following the impeachment of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol for declaring martial law – raised concerns in Tokyo that relations with Seoul could sour.
Lee has criticised past efforts to improve ties strained by lingering resentment over Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The South Korean government last week expressed “deep disappointment and regret” after Japanese officials visited a shrine in Tokyo to Japan’s war dead that many Koreans see as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression.
So far, however, Lee has said he backs closer relations with Japan, including in his first meeting with Ishiba on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada in June.
Despite their differences, the two US allies rely heavily on Washington to counter China’s growing regional influence.
Together, they host around 80,000 US troops, dozens of American warships and hundreds of military aircraft.
“As the international order has fluctuated recently over trade and security issues, I think that South Korea and Japan, which have similar positions in values, systems and ideology, should strengthen cooperation more than ever,” Lee said as he met Ishiba.
In Washington, Lee and Trump are expected to discuss security concerns including China, North Korea, and Seoul’s financial contribution for US forces stationed in South Korea – something the US leader has repeatedly pressed it to increase.
Japan and South Korea also share common ground on trade, with both agreeing to 15 per cent tariffs on US imports of their goods after Trump had threatened steeper duties.
