SOUTH KOREAN President Yoon Suk Yeol will arrive in Tokyo tomorrow for a two-day summit intended to increase “security” co-operation with Japan.
 
Washington has long lobbied for the meeting between its main east Asian allies, and United States ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel has admitted it held 40 trilateral meetings to try to build trust for the first Seoul-Tokyo summit in 12 years.

Mutual enmity is rooted in the legacy of Japan’s colonial rule over Korea from 1910-45 and its wartime atrocities, especially the sexual enslavement of thousands of Koreans dubbed “comfort women” by the Japanese military. Japan’s own remilitarisation is led by nationalist politicians who continue to defend the country’s wartime record, complicating rapprochement with Seoul.

But with Japan the base for 50,000 US troops and South Korea hosting 30,000, and the countries being the region’s second and third-largest economies after US rival China, bringing them closer is “in the larger context of our strategic alignment a very big deal,” Mr Emanuel says.