Japan and South Korea bury the hatchet over rice omelette
JAPAN and South Korea’s leaders attempted to resolve a lingering historical feud over rice omelette yesterday in their first summit in 12 years, which is likely to anger China.
The leaders, among the most important US allies in the region, met for two dinners in a major step towards ending a compensation dispute over wartime forced labour and building a new security block to counter China’s rise.
Yoon Suk Yeol, the South Korean president, and Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, announced a military intelligence sharing pact as they pledged to resume regular visits to jointly tackle increasing instability in the Indo-pacific.
The nature of their security challenges was underscored early yesterday morning, when North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula hours before their meeting.
Pyongyang last year launched an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles, including four ICBMS, which have a range capable of striking the United States mainland.
Mr Yoon acknowledged that “the ever-escalating threat of North Korea’s nuclear missile programme poses a huge threat to peace and stability, not only in East Asia but also to the [broader] international community”.
He added: “South Korea and Japan need to work closely together and in solidarity to wisely counter the threat.”
The rare meeting followed a breakthrough offer by Seoul to drop demands for Japanese companies to pay compensation to victims of forced labour during the Second World War, in a plan that would facilitate payments through a South Korean private sector fund.
The summit included a shared meal of a Tokyo classic called omurice. The dish, whose name is a mash-up of omelette and rice, has become the talk of the town since Japan’s Fuji TV reported a hushed plan for Mr Kishida to treat Mr Yoon at Rengatei, the no-frills restaurant that invented it.
Mr Yoon, a self-described foodie and avid cook, reportedly had “unforgettable” memories of the omurice he ate in his youth at the 128-year-old establishment in Tokyo’s Ginza district. He made frequent trips to the capital in 1966 while his father, a university professor, spent a year there, he told the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
The forced labour deal was a domestic political gamble for Mr Yoon but it prompted an invite from Tokyo and was hailed by Joe Biden, the US president, as a new chapter of co-operation that would boost Japanese and Korean security, and “help us to uphold and advance our shared vision for a free and open Indo-pacific”.
The issue of compensation has complicated previous US bids to foster deeper relations between two of its biggest Asian allies at a time when North Korea is not only building nuclear missiles, but Beijing is exerting its economic and military influence across the the region, and threatening Taiwan. Both Mr Yoon and Mr Kishida face a backlash from more hardline politicians and the public over the détente.
The UK underlined the importance of the region for its own foreign policy this week, announcing a deal under the Aukus pact to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines and warning in an Integrated Review on security policy.
Mr Kishida stressed that his meeting with Mr Yoon would “open a new chapter in Japan-south Korea relations”. However, Beijing was less enthused. Its foreign ministry said China opposed “the closed and exclusive circle of individual countries”.