Why Japan, South Korea inch closer

For Asia’s democracies – the ones eager to work together to fend off the region’s autocratic bullies – a May 13 announcement in Tokyo was welcome news: For the first time, South Korean and Japanese troops would be operating shoulder to shoulder in a joint military exercise in early June.

The two neighboring nations, a ferryboat ride apart, would notch one more success in their slow reconciliation over painful memories, such as forced labor, from Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.

Alas, South Korea quickly denied the news, even though its forces will be participating with those of the United States and the Philippines in the annual exercise – which includes Japan.

One possible reason for this conflicting information: South Korea holds a presidential election June 3, the day after the military drills. In Korean politics, relations with Japan have long been a hotly contested topic.

Nonetheless, the election itself is showing just how much the South Korean people are moving to work through dark periods of history, especially after an official apology and remorse by Japan for certain past atrocities.

The leading candidate for president, Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, has shed much of his past anti-Japan rhetoric. He now says the two countries should have a free trade agreement and that historical and territorial issues should not carry over to social, economic, and cultural ties.

One obvious reason for this shift is geopolitical. China and North Korea are becoming more aggressive toward their neighbors. Meanwhile, the U.S. under President Donald Trump appears to be less of a solid economic partner with his high tariffs. Japan and South Korea realize they now have much more in common than old frictions. Their economic wealth per capita, for example, is closely equal.

Yet perhaps a bigger driver of closer ties are young Japanese and Koreans. They revel in each other’s cultural exports – anime and K-pop, for instance. About half of 18-to-29-year-olds in South Korea see the Japanese as kind and hardworking, according to a 2023 poll. Each country provides the largest share of tourists to the other. Most young Koreans do not carry the memories of their grandparents from the Japanese occupation.

Perhaps the Korean troops in the coming military exercises may actually want to meet their Japanese counterparts. Politicians, take note. That would make history, rather than rehash it. Democracy in Asia would be the better for it.