Japan PM Kishida visits South Korea given the rising threat from China &

Seoul/ Tokyo: After 12 years, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited South Korea. The visit of the Japanese Prime Minister will attract attention in the background of the growing threat of China’s activities and North Korea’s nuclear program. In a joint press conference during the visit, the two leaders announced that diplomatic relations and meetings between the two countries had been normalised. At the same time, the leaders of Japan and South Korea assured that the visit would strengthen cooperation in the defence and trade sectors and would benefit the people of both countries.

Moreover, there is tremendous tension between Japan and South Korea over some issues dating back to World War II. During World War II, Japan occupied Korea and enslaved Korean citizens. South Korea demands that Japan apologise for this and that Japanese companies pay compensation. In 2018, a court in South Korea also ordered two Japanese companies to pay compensation. While establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1965, Japan claimed that the World War II dispute was resolved. Due to the aggressive stance taken by the previous governments of both Japan and South Korea on this issue, the tension has continued to flare up. However, in the last few months, both countries have taken steps to reduce the tension in the background of the threat created by the activities of China and North Korea. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visited Japan in March and took the initiative for positive relations.

After that, the meetings of senior officials in the two countries started. Two high-level meetings have been held in Japan and South Korea in the last two months. Technology, energy and security cooperation was discussed along with ‘Military Intelligence Sharing’. Steps have also been taken to strengthen bilateral cooperation in these areas. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida‘s visit to Korea is part of it. During his visit, Prime Minister Kishida expressed deep condolences for the atrocities committed by Japan on the citizens of South Korea during the Second World War and said that he shared the suffering of the South Korean people. Analysts claim that this statement by the Japanese Prime Minister is an important step in normalising relations between the two countries.

Furthermore, China’s expansionist activities in the Pacific region have increased significantly in the past few years. For dominance in this area, China is using many other ways, including infiltration. At the same time, North Korea, on the other hand, has started expanding the scope of its nuclear program. North Korea has continuously conducted missile tests, including nuclear weapons, in the past year. Due to these tests and the continuous threats from the North Korean regime, the tension in the Korean region is currently very high. The United States has started a struggle to create a front in this area to prevent the increasing aggression of China and North Korea.

Since Japan and South Korea are the main part of the alliance, the United States needs to have a smooth relationship. Considering this background, the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to South Korea becomes important.

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