Japan PM to miss Yoon swearing-in ceremony

Foreign minister will instead be at event marking new president for South Korea

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is dispatching his foreign minister to attend the inauguration next week of South Korea’s new president, who had been seeking the premier’s attendance as a symbol of putting troubled ties on a more stable course.

Kishida will send Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to attend the swearing-in ceremony for South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, Japan’s Asahi newspaper and other media reported, citing unnamed government sources.

Yoon’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comments yesterday, adding it did not comment on individual reports.

Jin Chang-soo, an expert on Japan at South Korea’s statefunded Sejong Institute think tank, said although Yoon’s camp would rather have Kishida attend, it would still consider Hayashi’s visit as a sign of Tokyo’s will to set a new course in relations.

“Hayashi’s talks with the new South Korean top officials may be the beginning of the two countries mending ties,” Jin said.

Soon after taking office, Yoon will be meeting US President Joe Biden, who will be on a trip to the region from May 20-24 that also takes him to Japan for talks with Kishida.

Warming ties between the two US allies would be a welcome development for Biden as he seeks their cooperation to counter security threats posed by China and North Korea, while securing supply chains for goods such as semiconductors free from interference from Beijing.

Yoon, a conservative, has signalled he wants to take a hawkish diplomatic course, which would also be in line with some of the security priorities of Kishida’s conservative government.

The new leadership in Seoul may offer a chance to inch back relations to something more like normal, with the war in Ukraine providing a reminder to both countries of their reliance on their mutual ally amid growing regional threats.

It had been the tradition for Japanese prime ministers to attend South Korean presidential inaugurations until political acrimony led Japan’s premier to skip the inauguration of former president Park Geun-hye in 2013.

Relations had deteriorated to their worst state in decades under Yoon’s predecessor, President Moon Jae-in, because of disputes related to Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

In an attempt to break the ice, Yoon dispatched a delegation of lawmakers and policy advisers to Japan in late April.

They met Kishida and sought to have him attend the ceremony.