July 1 (EUROPA PRESS) –
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol advocated on Friday addressing “the past and future” of South Korea’s relations with Japan “simultaneously” to resolve disputes between the two countries and improve relations.
Yoon thus explained that “the historical issues and questions about the future of the two countries must be addressed and resolved jointly,” according to the Yonhap news agency.
“We have to reject the idea that without progress between the two countries on historical issues there can be no conversation about the future of the two nations,” he said before indicating that “everything can be addressed.” “I believe that if South Korea and Japan can work together on issues for the future, the historical problems will be solved,” she continued.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent years in connection with disputes over Japan’s colonial era between 1910 and 1945, including the contentious issue of so-called ‘comfort women’ — the estimated 200,000 Korean women who were used as sex slaves by Japanese troops during the colonial period–.
However, Yoon has vowed to improve bilateral relations after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for the first time on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid.
The rise in tension between the two countries has also undermined cooperation with the United States to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat. In this regard, the South Korean head of state has indicated that the parties have agreed that “it would be desirable to resume this trilateral cooperation on security and defense, which has been suspended for a considerable period of time.”
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