South Korea’s Lee, Enroute to Washington, Stops at Tokyo To Bolster Relations With Japan

In a flurry of summitry, South Korea’s president, Lee Jae-myung, is strengthening Seoul’s relationship with Japan in advance of his showdown Monday with President Trump.

Mr. Lee, stopping off at Tokyo on his way to Washington, agreed with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan on confirming “the foundation” of Korean-Japanese relations. They sidestepped disagreements on, among other things, claims against Japanese companies for forcing Koreans to work for them in World War II.

The wording represented an improvement from when, before his election as president in May, the leftist Mr. Lee called Japan a “hostile state.” 

“Adjustments to the wording in the joint document continued until the day of its release, with the Japanese side strongly stressing the importance of confirming the ‘foundation’  of Japan-South Korea relations by ‘both leaders,’” said Japan’s biggest-selling newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, explaining “the foundation” refers to the agreement for settling “problems concerning property and claims”  that was signed when they normalized relations 60 years ago.

Although Korean leftists love to attack the “legitimacy” of that agreement, Mr. Lee, in a touch of supreme irony, was eager to build on improved relations as assiduously cultivated by Korea’s ousted former president, Yoon Suk-yeol, the conservative now on trial for his abortive attempt at imposing martial law last December. Mr. Yoon’s nemesis was Mr. Lee, largely responsible for blocking martial law and bringing about Mr. Yoon’s downfall and arrest on charges of insurrection and treason..

The tightening bond between one-time imperial Japan and its one-time colony, Korea, may have seemed like exactly what the Americans have long wanted to see. Seoul and Tokyo, however, may be responding to fears that Mr. Trump could reduce America’s commitment to their defense while demanding far more for the cost of American bases and troops. 

America has treaty alliances with both countries, but their history of hostility keeps them from joining a tripartite alliance with Washington. Now 53,000 American troops are in Japan, most of them at bases in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa. There are 28,500 in Korea, mostly at America’s largest overseas base, Camp Humphreys, and nearby Osan Air Base, 40 miles south of Seoul. 

Mr. Trump has hinted at withdrawing thousands from Korea while demanding Seoul pay $10 billion a year for having them in the country – nearly ten times as much as the $1.1 billion agreed on by President Biden. 

South Korea may try to negotiate $2 billion a year, double the current outlay, in what’s politely described as “modernization” of the longstanding alliance.  but he will also have to deal with Washington’s emphasis on defense against China, particularly its constant threats against Taiwan. Diplomats are hoping for what they call “a shared understanding” – a cautious phrase that masks all problems.

The summit “is expected to be a crucial test for the South Korea-U.S. alliance to set its future trajectory,” said Seoul’s Yonhap news. “Washington is pushing to reshape the bilateral security and economic partnerships in the face of an increasingly assertive China.” 

While Washington faces “the pacing threat” from China, Mr. Lee will come up with responses to demands for South Korea  to double its defense spending and agree to the use of American bases in Korea to counter China.  Seoul has long balked at suggestions that American warplanes could take off from bases in the South for exercises intended to intimidate China, the South’s biggest trading partner.

Yonhap quoted  the communications director at the Korea Economic Institute of America, Arius Deer, as calling the upcoming summit “a litmus test for the new administration in Seoul as well as an opportunity to sort of set the trend for the bilateral relationship over the coming years.”