By Wang Ying

Yonhap News Agency reported that the ROK Prime Minister LeeNak-yeon will visit Japan from October 22 to 24 and attend the Enthronement Ceremony for Emperor Naruhito on behalf of the ROK government. He will be the highest-level ROK official to visit Japan after the latter began the export restriction, and the world is watching closely whether his visit will thaw the icy relation between the two countries.

The focus will be a potential meeting between Lee and Abe

High-level meetings between ROK and Japan have basically stopped at the moment, and any breakthrough in mitigating their conflicts is difficult in the absence of communication between top leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe didn't have a separate meeting with LeeNak-yeon during the UN General Assembly in late September, so whether they will have a one-on-one meeting this time is unknown yet.

NHK reported earlier that Shinzo Abe was considering having a brief meeting with his ROK counterpart when attending the enthronement ceremony, but the ROK Prime Minister's Office hasn't given any confirmation so far. If the meeting were to take place, it would be the highest-level one between the two sides since their tension was elevated last October due to the war-time forced labor issue.

ROK's arrangements sent a positive signal of improving the relation with Japan. Although the tension lingers, the ROK government believes it most important to solve the disputes through dialogue, so the prime minister's visit is a step taken by Seoul to mend the relations with Tokyo. LeeNak-yeon is considered one of the few "pro-Japan" officials in the Moon Jae-in administration and he once served in a key position of a government association aimed at promoting ROK-Japan friendliness, according to news from nippon.com.

Intense confrontation over historical issues continues

The ROK-Japan relation has been on the strain since 2018 and is at a record low now since bilateral ties were normalized in 1965. If the two prime ministers were to hold a meeting, issues such as the compensation for forced labor, Japan's trade restrictions and the termination of their General Security of Military Information Agreement would be under the spotlight.

"The current economic and trade frictions and political disruption between the ROK and Japan are caused by historical issues. By political disruption I mean the break of meetings between their top leaders, who rarely meet with each other even on third-party occasions. Under such circumstances, it is appropriate for the ROK to send the prime minister to attend the Japanese emperor's enthronement ceremony, which is a continuation of the precedent created in 1990. Historical issues between the two sides not only involve forced labor, but also comfort women, which have affected their cooperation in political, economic and military security sectors," said LyuYaodong, a researcher at the Institute of Japan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in an interview.

 A full and complete reunion is unlikely

Japan will hold the enthronement ceremony for the new emperor on October 22. Although the ceremony offers a good opportunity for ROK and Japanese leaders to meet with each other, much is yet to be done to improve bilateral relationship.

"The key lies in historical issues. If they are not properly solved, it will be hard to improve the bilateral relations between Japan and ROK or to reach a consensus, and if neither side makes a concession, the confrontation will continue or perhaps escalate," said LyuYaodong, adding that "Seoul pays close attention to the Japan-initiated sanction and wants Japan to correctly view historical issues rather than retaliate through economic and trade means."

Kyodo News reported that the Japanese side insisted "no top-level dialogue will happen if the ROK doesn't make efforts on the forced labor issue". "Given the current situation, it's basically impossible for them to become as close as before. It's relatively a good prospect if the two countries can remain in a normal relation," said Mr. Lyu.

Disclaimer: This article is originally published on haiwainet.cn, which is the website of Overseas Edition of the People's Daily. The article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.