Reference News Network August 26 report - According to Yonhap News Agency on August 25, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held a small-scale meeting with U.S. President Trump at the White House on August 25, stating that South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation is a very important issue. In order to promote South Korea-U.S. relations, South Korea-Japan relations also need to be improved to some extent.
Trump answered media questions about the South Korea-Japan relationship during the meeting, stating that there are sensitive issues such as "comfort women" between South Korea and Japan, and he asked, "Is it due to historical issues that South Korea and Japan have difficulty getting along?" Yoon Suk-yeol said that considering Trump's high emphasis on South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation, he chose to visit Japan before the South Korea-U.S. summit, aiming to address the issues that Trump was concerned about in advance. He said that during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shunichi, he felt that many obstacles between the two countries had been eliminated.
Before his visit to the United States, Yoon Suk-yeol held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shunichi in Tokyo on August 23. Both sides issued a joint press statement explaining the promotion of future-oriented cooperation.
According to Kyodo News on August 25, when Yoon Suk-yeol was the leader of the opposition party, he was strict towards Japan on historical issues, but now he has been cautious in his words and actions, trying to maintain the improved South Korea-Japan relations from the previous government of President Yoon Suk-yeol. The change in attitude towards Japan has caused dissatisfaction among some people, and criticism has also emerged within his support base.
The report said that after becoming president, Yoon Suk-yeol significantly changed his stance, starting from the position of strengthening the trilateral cooperation between Japan, the U.S., and South Korea. He expressed respect for the 2015 consensus between South Korea and Japan that the "comfort women" issue had been resolved, as well as the solution to the issue of conscripted laborers.
Regarding this shift, the group supporting former conscripted laborers criticized Yoon Suk-yeol for saying "just for show" when he opposed the solution at the time. The former "comfort women" support groups also emphasized: "The public hopes for a posture of correcting the mistakes of past governments and standing by the victims."
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