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A policy deliberation delegation sent by President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to Japan meets with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at his office on April 26. (provided by Yoon Suk-yeol’s delegation)

A delegation that South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol sent to Japan for policy deliberations has met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. That shows that both Yoon and Kishida are generally in agreement about improving Korea-Japan ties, which are at their worst point since the two countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1965.

The Korean delegation met with Kishida at the prime minister’s residence in Tokyo at 10:40 am on Tuesday and discussed bilateral issues for about 25 minutes. During the meeting, the delegates also delivered a personal letter in which Yoon expressed his desire to improve relations with Japan.

“The Japanese prime minister voiced his agreement about upholding and developing the spirit of the statement made by [South Korean President] Kim Dae-jung and [Japanese Prime Minister Keizo] Obuchi [in 1998] that called for a new starting point in which our two countries would build a future-oriented relationship while also squarely facing the past,” the delegation’s leader, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Chung Jin-suk, told Korean reporters after the meeting.

Yoon’s letter reportedly expressed the same sentiments.

During the meeting, Kishida also stressed improving relations with South Korea. “Strategic cooperation between Japan and Korea and between Japan, the US and Korea has never been as necessary as the rules-based international order is under threat. We cannot delay improving relations with Korea,” Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted Kishida as saying.

South Korea and Japan appear to be in agreement about quickly settling their disagreements and strengthening cooperation at a time when the US-led liberal world order is facing serious challenges in the form of the rise of China, North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons, and the war in Ukraine.

Since the two countries have agreed about working together to improve relations, they’re likely to activate channels for dialogue once the Yoon administration takes over on May 10. The two governments intend to start with problems that are relatively easy to resolve and that will benefit both sides.

“Most important is restoring trust between our two countries. We shared our opinion that restoring trust will require reactivating person-to-person exchange, which has been interrupted because of COVID-19, and making institutional improvements toward that end. Kishida expressed his agreement,” said Chung, the head of the delegation.

Yoon intends to hold deliberations with Japan about restoring visa-free travel between the two countries and resuming flights between Gimpo and Haneda airports, which have been suspended since March 2020.

The two sides are also expected to review a variety of potential solutions for their biggest pending issue — namely, the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling that Japanese companies should pay damages to victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period. That issue was brought up by Kishida on Tuesday.

“We need to develop our relationship on the foundation of the friendly cooperation that we have built since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1965. That will require resolving pending issues,” the Japanese prime minister said.

The Japanese government maintains the position that all historical disputes between the two countries have already been resolved through the claims agreement they reached in 1965 and the “comfort women” agreement they reached in 2015.

“Japan will continue to communicate closely with the new [Korean] administration based on its consistent position,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said in a daily press briefing on Tuesday.

To improve relations, the South Korean government essentially must come up with a concrete solution for finding the cash to cover the damages the Supreme Court awarded former labor conscripts in October 2018.

Yoon’s advisors are reportedly reviewing a variety of options, including former National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang’s proposal for companies from both sides to donate money to pay the plaintiffs and an earlier proposal for the South Korean government to cover the payments with money from its own budget. But it’s thought that Korean society won’t consent to such a plan unless Japan sends a message of apology to the plaintiffs.

It’s unclear whether Kishida will attend Yoon’s presidential inauguration.

“We didn’t deliver a separate invitation. If we hear from Japan that he means to attend, we’ll do our best to arrange it,” Chung said.

“If [Kishida] adopts a conciliatory stance toward Korea before the House of Councillors election in July, he could face criticism from the conservative wing of the Liberal Democratic Party. The prime minister’s advisors are looking into [attending the inauguration], but they don’t think it’s feasible,” Japanese newspaper the Asahi Shimbun reported.

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]