The visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Korea on the 7th and meeting with President Yoon Seok-yeol was evaluated as similar to the visit of then-Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone to Korea in 1983.
On this day, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported, “There is an analysis in Japan that President Yoon Seok-yeol, who aims to strengthen cooperation between Korea and Japan and between Korea and the US and Japan, is conscious of the diplomacy of former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.”
“Nakasone, who valued trilateral cooperation between Korea, the U.S. and Japan, made a surprise visit to Korea after taking office as prime minister and focused on improving relations between Korea and Japan, which had deteriorated due to historical issues,” he added.
Former Prime Minister Nakasone was the first Japanese prime minister to visit Korea in 1983. He also became the first Japanese prime minister to visit the National Cemetery and pay his respects. The following year, then-President Chun Doo-hwan visited Japan.
In 1982, a year before former Prime Minister Nakasone’s visit to Korea, Korea-Japan relations were at a standstill due to Japan’s distortion of history textbooks, but a summit meeting was held with former Prime Minister Nakasone’s will.
Former Prime Minister Nakasone used Korean words such as “Hello,” in a speech at a dinner party held at the Blue House, and sang the Korean song “The Man in the Yellow Shirt” at the banquet that followed.
The Nikkei said, “President Yoon, who was a college student at the time, spent some time in Tokyo.”
He added, “When I visited Japan this March, I said that former Prime Minister Nakasone was a great person.”
The media likened President Yoon to former Prime Minister Nakasone in trying to link the improvement of Korea-Japan relations to strengthening trilateral cooperation between Korea, the US and Japan.
In the 1980s, former Prime Minister Nakasone forged the closest postwar alliance with President Ronald Reagan. The ‘Ron-Yas relationship’, named after the two leaders, symbolizes a strong honeymoon relationship.
The media explained, “President Yoon made a state visit to the United States in April, received President Biden’s hospitality, and announced the Washington Declaration with the United States.”
Experts predict that with the summit meeting as an opportunity, the cooperation system between South Korea, the US and Japan will begin in earnest in various fields such as security and economy.
The South Korean government visited Japan after presenting a solution to compensation for damages from forced labor in March, and normalized the Korea-Japan Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). Afterwards, President Yoon visited the United States and announced the ‘Washington Declaration’.
As the trilateral cooperation between Korea, the US and Japan is strengthening, a Korea-US-Japan summit is scheduled to be held at the G7 summit to be held in Japan from the 19th.
Junya Nishino, a professor at Keio University, emphasized, “The series of events leading up to this summit between Korea and Japan are similar to the situation during former Prime Minister Nakasone’s visit to Korea.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.