Yoon sending delegation to Tokyo as normal relations sought

Politics

Published: 17 Apr. 2022, 18:16

Yoon sending delegation to Tokyo as normal relations sought

People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Chung Jin-suk, a National Assembly deputy speaker, will lead President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s policy consultation delegation to Japan from April 24 to 28. Chung speaks at an overseas Koreans policy forum on March 30 at the National Assembly, western Seoul. [YONHAP]

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will send a delegation to Japan for policy consultations on North Korea and pending bilateral issues later this month, his transition team said Sunday.

People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Chung Jin-suk, a National Assembly deputy speaker, will lead the seven-member delegation to Tokyo for a five-day trip from April 24 to 28, according to Bae Hyun-jin, the transition team's spokesperson. They will meet with government officials, including from the Japanese Foreign Ministry, as well as lawmakers, businesspeople, journalists and academics.

Bae added that the visit is expected to help "establish a foundation for cooperation on North Korea policy and resolving pending issues between South Korea and Japan."

Yoon's delegation could seek for a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the visit.

Chung is a fifth-term lawmaker in the parliamentary foreign affairs and unification committee and serves as co-chair of the South Korea-Japan parliamentary diplomacy forum, a group of lawmakers and experts established in 2019 dedicated to improving the relations between the two countries.

Other members include PPP Rep. Kim Seok-ki, vice chair of the Korea-Japan parliamentary diplomacy forum; Yun Duk-min, former chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and a North Korea and international security expert; Park Cheol-hee, a professor of Japanese politics at Seoul National University's Graduate School of International Studies; and Chang Ho-jin, a former ambassador to Cambodia and former secretary for diplomatic affairs for President Lee Myung-bak.

These members, all with expertise in Japanese affairs, have been involved in formulating Yoon's foreign and security policies during his campaign.

Notably, Lee Sang-deok, a former Korean ambassador to Singapore, was included in the delegation. Lee previously served as a director general for Northeast Asian affairs at the Korean Foreign Ministry and led the Korean side in working-level negotiations for the 2015 "comfort women" deal. The foreign ministries of the two countries under previous administrations struck a deal on Dec. 28, 2015 aimed at resolving the issue of the Japanese military's sexual slavery during World War II. Kishida served as former foreign minister at that time.

Seoul and Tokyo faced deteriorating relations in recent years over history issues stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over Korea.

In 2019, Japan imposed tighter restrictions on exports to Korea of materials essential in the making of semiconductors and displays and removed Korea from its so-called white list of trusted trading partners. The move was seen as retaliation for Korea's Supreme Court rulings in late 2018 ordering Japanese companies to individually compensate victims of Japan's wartime forced labor, leading to a period of deteriorated diplomatic relations.

Yoon sent a policy consultation delegation to the United States from April 3 to 11, headed by PPP Rep. Park Jin, his foreign minister nominee.

Japan is the second country that Yoon is sending a delegation to after his election victory last month, an indication of foreign relation priorities for the president-elect.

The Tokyo trip comes amid reports that Korea and the United States are in talks to hold a first summit between Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden around May 21 in Seoul.

Biden plans to visit Tokyo next month to attend a meeting of Quad leaders around May 24. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, is a U.S.-led cooperative forum with India, Japan and Australia.

Biden has pushed for stronger trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan, amid increased tensions because of China's growing assertiveness in the region and North Korea's military threats.

Yoon told the Washington Post in an interview released Thursday that South Korea's "weakened relationship with Japan is the Achilles' heel" of such trilateral cooperation.

He referred to a 1998 joint declaration between then Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and called for a "future-oriented bilateral relationship that is not trapped by the past."

Yoon said that "future-oriented development" of relations is beneficial not only to Japan but to South Korean people and companies.

He added that he is sure that South Korea-Japan relations "will go well" under his presidency, promising "a normal diplomatic relationship."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]