Japan and South Korea agree to strengthen economic cooperation

summit between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol underlined the thawing bilateral ties, with the two leaders agreeing to resume “shuttle diplomacy,” dining at Yoon’s favorite omurice restaurant in Tokyo’s glitzy Ginza district and drinking beer and Korean soju with their ties off.

According to The Japan Times, the return of relations between Japan and South Korea was aimed at strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries, amid fears of a new economic crisis following the collapse of some banks in the United States.

Japan’s Prime Minister and South Korea have agreed to establish a new body to deepen economic cooperation between the two countries in the coming period.

Ahead of the summit, Japan’s trade ministry announced it would lift strict measures it has imposed since 2019 on the export of high-tech materials for making smartphone displays and chips.

This followed South Korea’s announcement of an end to the economic dispute with Japan.

Washington, which wanted to solidify better trilateral cooperation to deal with China, was also an important factor in ummit, serving as the go-between for months to promote rapprochement between Tokyo and Seoul.

Relations between the neighbors plummeted to a fresh low in 2018 after the South Korean Supreme Court issued rulings ordering two Japanese firms to pay compensation to wartime forced laborers and their families.

Tokyo maintains that all issues related to compensation were settled under a 1965 bilateral agreement.