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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of their summit at the South Korean presidential office in Seoul on May 7 of last year. (provided by the presidential office)

The Yoon administration in South Korea announced it will explore the option of the leaders of Korea and Japan making a new joint statement next year on the 60th anniversary of the two countries’ normalization of diplomatic relations. There are concerns that the statement will solely emphasize future-oriented relations and national security cooperation without mentioning Japan’s contrition for past behaviors.

A high-ranking official in the office of Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed the Yoon administration’s desire to prepare a new joint statement with Japan in a recent meeting with Japanese correspondents based in Seoul.

“Generally speaking, the statement made by [Korean President] Kim Dae-jung and [Japanese Prime Minister Keizo] Obuchi in 1998 was very successful and consequential in the sense that it was a political agreement between our two countries about the next century. But we’ve clearly reached a time when we need [a statement] that will reflect changes in the international situation and new obstacles and challenges that have arisen since then,” the official said.

“The vision shared by Korea and Japan needs to be extended geographically far beyond the Korean Peninsula. It needs to include our hopes and pledges for the future that leave all the past behind us. We plan to remain in consultation with Japan about those preparations,” the official went on to say.

In effect, the Yoon administration seeks to produce a new joint statement that can replace the “New Japan–Republic of Korea Partnership towards the Twenty-first Century” that was announced by Kim and Obuchi in Tokyo in October 1998. In that statement, Japan expressed its “keen remorse” for its colonial rule of Japan, and Korea voiced its “appreciation” for Japan’s historical understanding. Based on those two points, the two countries pledged to develop a future-oriented relationship.

But it is unclear from the Korean official’s remarks whether the new joint statement would mention anything about Japan’s remorse.

“A high-ranking official from the Korean presidential office told Japanese reporters in a meeting on Monday about [the Yoon administration’s] desire for the Korean and Japanese leaders to release a new joint statement next year,” the Yomiuri Shimbun and other Japanese newspapers reported on Wednesday.

The Japanese newspapers also quoted the Yoon administration official as saying that “these three countries [South Korea, the US and Japan] that share the same values have begun to exercise leadership in the Indo-Pacific region.” For Korea and Japan to expand their cooperation to the Indo-Pacific region could be interpreted as Korea’s intention to fully participate in the US-led containment of China.

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent, and Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

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