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South Korean President Moon Jae-in presides over a strategic meeting for reforming the National Intelligence Service, the prosecutors, and the police at the Blue House on Sept. 21. (Yonhap News)

After South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent a letter congratulating Yoshihide Suga on his election as Japan’s new prime minister, Suga responded by calling for the two countries to “overcome difficult problems to build future-oriented bilateral relations,” the Blue House announced on Sept. 21.

“On Sept. 19, we received Prime Minister Suga’s response to the congratulatory letter sent by President Moon. After expressing his gratitude for President Moon’s letter, Prime Minister Suga emphasized that the two countries are important neighbors,” Blue House Spokesperson Kang Min-seok said during Monday’s press briefing.

In the letter, sent on Sept. 16, Moon said he was “ready to sit down at any time for dialogue” and urged Suga to “continue working together to further develop Korea-Japan relations during your time as prime minister.”

The South Korean government has clarified its determination to take Suga’s election as an opportunity to repair its damaged relations with Japan. But given considerable disagreements with the Japanese government about the issue of compensating victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period and about its handling of a comfort women agreement reached with Japan on Dec. 28, 2015, repairing relations doesn’t seem likely in the short term.

Rather than pinning hopes on a rapid improvement of relations, South Korea may need to seek an opportunity to reexamine bilateral relations, such as a trilateral summit with China and Japan this year.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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