South Korean President Lee Myung Bak's visit to Japan this week heralds the start of a new relationship between South Korea and Japan. It is the first visit to Japan by a South Korean president since December 2004, when Mr. Roh Moo Hyun met with then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and President Lee agreed that the two countries should expand bilateral ties to build a "more mature partnership," and open up a "new Japan-(South) Korea era" by squarely looking at history, sharing a vision for the future and contributing to the international community.
Although Japan and South Korea need to carefully manage their relationship, the joint press statement shows that both countries are determined to warm up a relationship that grew cool when Mr. Koizumi and Mr. Roh were in office.
The chilly ties were partly caused by then-Prime Minister Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine, Japan's war shrine, and President Roh's harsh attitude toward the so-called historical issues and the territorial issue over Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean). Mr. Roh's conciliatory attitude toward North Korea and policy of distancing his country from both Japan and the United States also cooled South Korea's relationship with Japan and the U.S.