Ever since South Koreans elected Lee Jae-myung as their new president in June this year, speculation has been rife in a section of the international public spectrum that the country’s foreign policy might go in for a revisionist mould. Some analysts have prophesied that the Lee presidency would break away from the foreign policy course of his ousted predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol. Fears have been voiced in Tokyo that President Lee might reverse the agreements his ousted predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol reached with Japanese Premier Fumio Kishida to resolve contentious historical issues and advance trilateral military cooperation with the United States.
Objectively viewed, such apprehensions are not out of place. It is well known that, as an Opposition leader in the country, Lee had always opposed former President Yoon’s shift towards Japan and the United States. Once he claimed Yoon’s rapprochement with Japan, and, by extension, the United States, would amount to antagonising China, with which South Korea has had a strong economic linkage.
One, however, finds there is hardly any revisionism in President Lee’s foreign policy in sight. In his presidential inaugural address in June, Lee vowed to pursue pragmatic diplomacy with neighbouring countries and boost trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation. In one of his media interviews, Lee has disavowed concerns that his presidency “would reverse Yoon’s reconciliation efforts with Japan and the trilateral allied cooperation” with Tokyo (and Washington).
In a recent interview President Lee said, “Japan is very important to South Korea… South Korea can be beneficial to Japan. The most significant issue is certainly the historical issues, but we cannot dwell on them… The uncomfortable aspects of our relationship will not disappear, even if we try to ignore them… So, we must acknowledge reality as much as possible, make an effort to understand each other, compromise where necessary and resolve issues without resorting to confrontation.”
Herein Lee has made it clear that he does not intend to reverse the Yoon-Kishida agreement. He said, “it is a commitment made by the state, so it is not desirable to overturn it.” In line with this, President Lee is doing everything to reach out to Japan. Tradionally, South Korean leaders have made the U.S. their first overseas destination. But he is visiting Japan before traveling to the United States.
Since he assumed the presidency of his country, President Lee has taken steps to strike a fine equation with Japanese Premier Ishiba. Lee met Ishiba, in person, on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada in June this year. During their meeting, they discussed the ways to advance their bilateral ties and trilateral cooperation with the United States. Last month when President Lee’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met Prime Minister Ishiba. During their meeting, Japanese Premier Ishiba, too, reaffirmed his intent to further develop relations between Tokyo and Seoul.
Today both President Lee and Prime Minister Ishiba seem to be aware of the need to resolve the issue of compensation to former Korean labourers. They know together they can face a number of common challenges. They have to respond to Trump’s tariffs on key sectors of their economies, as well as the U.S. president’s demands that they shoulder more of the burden for their defines. Recently, both countries secured separate trade agreements with the U.S. that keep their reciprocal duties at 15%. Both Japan and South Korea have pledged hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. investments.
They must be aware that they have to work together to meet the threat North Korea’s aggressive nuclear and missile armament programme and its growing military cooperation with Russia in the wake of the ongoing war in Ukraine pose to them. Lee wants the North to freeze its nuclear and missile programs in the first stage, reduce its arms and finally dismantle them. President Lee must give figured it out by now that his dovishness towards Pyongyang matters little. The latter is recalcitrant.
Lee seems to be well aware that Tokyo and Washington are important allies of South Korea. Japan and South Korea have both been military allies of the United States and they must remain ever determined to work militarily with the United States to counter their perceived threats from China, North Korea and Russia. One hopes during his upcoming visit to Tokyo and Washington this month, President Lee would have substantial dialogue with Japanese Premier Shigeru Ishiba and his US counterpart Donald J. Trump as to how to go about strengthening their trilateral security cooperation.
In Tokyo, President Lee and Prime Minister Ishiba may issue a statement on building “future-oriented cooperation” in security and economic matters between South Korea and Japan and bolstering their security coordination with the United States. Lee would give clear indications historical disputes must be separated from the areas of practical cooperation. The two leaders may revisit the 1998 joint declaration then Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung had issued. Therein Obuchi expressed “deep remorse” over Japan’s colonial rule. And Kim pledged “to overcome their unfortunate history” and build a “future-oriented relationship.”
The need to do so is somewhat essential today. Given the attitude of US President Trump towards the former allies of the United States, it would be naïve to take anything granted in his future course of action. Both Lee and Ishiba must extract firm commitment from him on the security front. Right now, President Trump’s commitment to the security of the two East Asian states is vague. During his first term in the White House, President Trump often accused South Korea and Japan of siphoning off American military resources. He even threatened to pull troops out of South Korea.
