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| President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the ASEAN-East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in this Nov. 13, 2022 photo. AP-Yonhap |
No joint statement to be issued after summit
By Lee Hyo-jin
With a breakthrough summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida slated for Thursday, diplomatic observers advised that Yoon should not put aside historical issues in his push for a future-oriented partnership with the neighboring country.
They also stressed that Kishida should show sincere, visible efforts on the forced labor issue during the summit to renew bilateral ties that have become strained over the past decade.
During a two-day trip to Tokyo from Thursday, Yoon will meet with Kishida in the afternoon which will be followed by a joint press conference by the two leaders. Also, they will reportedly have two meals together. But there will be no joint statement between the two leaders, according to Korea's presidential office, Wednesday.
It is the first time in 12 years for a Korean president to visit Japan for a summit with a Japanese leader.
The event comes less than two weeks after Seoul announced its plan to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor through a government-run fund, without the direct involvement of responsible Japanese firms.
The settlement on the long-standing historical grievance ― despite having drawn strong public backlash here ― served as a momentum in mending a years-long diplomatic feud with Tokyo which have impeded trade and military cooperation.
Diplomatic experts, who described the upcoming summit as "the first step in putting bilateral ties back on track," said urging a sincere response from Japan to the compensation plan should be one of the top priorities of the Korean president.
"The forced labor issue is not completely resolved. Rather, the summit should be the beginning of discussions on how the two sides will map out the compensation plan, while bringing out a clear response from Japan on how it will contribute to the public foundation," said Yang Ki-ho, a professor of Japanese studies at Sungkonghoe University.
He called for reciprocal steps from Tokyo in response to Seoul's major diplomatic concessions.
"Considering that Japan had virtually done nothing to resolve the (forced labor) issue, while the Yoon administration pushed ahead with the resolution despite public backlash, it is time for Kishida to show some meaningful actions."
In terms of domestic politics, Kishida had much to gain from the resolution on the forced labor issue, but it was the opposite for Yoon, as seen by contrasting approval ratings of the two leaders.
On Monday, the Japanese prime minister saw his approval rating climbing up to 41 percent following the deal between the two nations, reaching over 40 percent for the first time in six weeks. On the other hand, Yoon's approval rating fell to 38.9 percent on the same day, dropping below 40 percent for the first time in four weeks.
"It would be best if Kishida reads out a quote from the 1998 joint declaration," Yang said. In the statement, then-Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi expressed deep remorse and apology for the tremendous damage and suffering to the Korea people during the colonial occupation.
Choi Eun-mi, a fellow researcher at Asan Institute for Policy Studies, also viewed the upcoming summit should include talks about historical issues, and Japan must show visible efforts on offering an apology and compensation for the Korean forced labor victims.
The absence of a joint statement ― as announced by the Korean administration on Wednesday ― implies that it is unlikely for the two leaders to reach a settlement on specific issues. However, this does not necessarily mean that the meeting will not lead to any tangible results, Choi said.
"The upcoming summit itself is meaningful in that it will restore bilateral ties. Besides, a two-day visit is too short to bring results on a working-level," she said, adding that the summit will lay the groundwork for the Japanese leader's possible visit to Korea in the future.
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