S. Korean and Japanese biz groups meet amid signs of thawing in strained Seoul-Tokyo ties

[Photo by Han Joo-hyung]

Business leaders of South Korea and Japan met in Seoul on Monday for the first time in three yeas amid signs of thawing in bilateral ties that have been deadlocked during the last liberal government of Seoul over past and trade issues.

Members of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, in a joint statement after a meeting on Monday vowed to work towards future-oriented relationship to address to common immediate and long-term challenges for co-prosperity.

The largest business interest groups of the two countries met annually since 1983 until their regular get-together was cut off amid pandemic since the last meeting in Tokyo in 2019.

Business relationship also had been constrained by worsened ties between the two nations after the Korean top court ordered Japanese companies to compensate for forced wartime labor, after which Tokyo slammed curbs on shipments of key materials for electronic components bound for South Korea, claiming its wartime dues had ended with the basic treaty for normalization of diplomatic ties.

Tokyo has lately warmed towards Seoul under new conservative president Yoon Suk-yeol. Yoon briefly held talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida and had extended tripartite meeting hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of a recent North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit.

Keidanren delegation also paid a visit to Yoon. Seoul launched a private-public council to find a breakthrough in bilateral relation with Japan.

The business groups in their statement called for renewal of visa waiver to stimulate bilateral exchanges in the private sector and support for Korea¡¯s membership to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an 11-member free trade agreement including Japan, Australia, Canada, and Singapore.

They urged bilateral ties uphold the spirit of the 1998 bilateral agreement between then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and his counterpart Keizo Obuchi. After announcing the agreement in 1998, Seoul opened the door to Japanese popular culture, while Tokyo started a working holiday program for young Koreans.

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]