Before meeting with Trump, South Korea’s Lee  in Japan to strengthen ties

Before meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung landed in Japan on Saturday for a summit that is likely to reinforce security cooperation between the two East Asian neighbors.

Lee will meet Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the premier’s Tokyo house on his first official trip to Japan since assuming office in June. The meeting will cover bilateral relations, particularly increased security cooperation with the United States under a trilateral agreement inked by their predecessors. Tokyo was worried that ties with Seoul may deteriorate after liberal Lee won a snap election after conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached for imposing martial law.

Lee has criticized previous attempts to mend fences caused by lingering animosity over Japan’s colonial control of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Last week, the South Korean government conveyed “deep disappointment and regret” following Japanese officials’ visit to a shrine in Tokyo honoring Japan’s war dead, which many Koreans saw as a representation of Japan’s aggressiveness during the war.

However, Lee has stated thus far that he supports deeper ties with Japan, notably at his initial encounter with Ishiba in June during a Group of Seven summit in Canada. Notwithstanding their disagreements, Washington is crucial to the two U.S. partners’ efforts to offset China’s expanding regional influence. Together, they are home to hundreds of military aircraft, dozens of American warships, and almost 80,000 American soldiers.

Lee and Trump are anticipated to talk about security issues in Washington, including as North Korea, China, and Seoul’s financial support for American forces in South Korea, which the US president has urged to rise.
Following Trump’s threat of higher tariffs, South Korea and Japan agreed to 15% tariffs on U.S. imports of their goods, demonstrating their shared trade interests.