South Korea, Japan must confront ‘common threats’ together, Yoon Suk-yeol says – as Kishida vows to never again wage war

The South Korean president, at a ceremony marking the end of Japanese colonial rule, called for ties between the two to ‘swiftly and properly improve’

It came as Fumio Kishida sent an offering to a controversial shrine honouring Japanese war dead – and pledged that Japan would never again wage war

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President Yoon Suk-yeol waves a South Korean flag during a ceremony in Seoul on Monday to mark Korean Liberation Day. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:36pm, 15 Aug 2022Updated: 5:20pm, 15 Aug 2022

South Korea and Japan face “common threats” and must overcome their historical disputes, President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Monday, offering to improve ties between two US allies the Joe Biden administration has called upon to form a united front against the likes of China, Russia and North Korea.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the 1945 end of Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, Yoon said Tokyo had become a partner in tackling threats to global freedom, adding that he wants to “swiftly and properly improve” bilateral relations.

“When Korea-Japan relations move toward a common future and when the mission of our times align, based on our shared universal values, it will also help us solve the historical problems that exist between our two countries,” Yoon said in the Liberation Day speech.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, right, and his South Korean counterpart Park Jin bump elbows before their talks in Tokyo on July 18. Photo: Kyodo

Last month, the two countries’ foreign ministers met in Tokyo and said they would seek an early resolution to the issue of compensation for Koreans conscripted during the colonial period to work in factories and mines that helped power Japan’s Imperial Army.

Ties between the neighbours fell to new depths under Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-in, over a series of court decisions awarding compensation to the former workers. Japan sees the decisions as unlawful and the issue as “settled completely and finally” under a 1965 agreement that established diplomatic ties and was accompanied by US$500 million in aid and loans.

A plan being floated by Yoon for a joint fund between the governments stands little chance of support in Japan, which is still angry after a separate fund for so-called comfort women trafficked into Imperial Japanese Army brothels was scuttled by Moon.

South Korea’s foreign ministry submitted an argument to the Supreme Court last month, asking for a delay of the verdict on liquidising assets of a Japanese company to pay compensation for the conscripted workers. The ministry added it was making various diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue.