South Korea, Japan agree to boost ties as challenges mount

Sakura Murakami, Soo-Hyang Choi, Bloomberg News on Aug 23, 2025

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The leaders of Japan and South Korea met on Saturday and pledged to enhance cooperation between the two countries, saying economic and security challenges require them to step up bilateral relations.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung held their bilateral meeting in Tokyo that lasted about two hours. Lee heads to the U.S. next to meet President Donald Trump.

“We agreed to build a virtuous cycle in which advances in bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan contribute to stronger trilateral cooperation with the U.S.,” Lee said at a joint press conference with Ishiba after their meeting.

They agreed to work together on issues ranging from denuclearizing North Korea to artificial intelligence, and will develop a consultative framework to tackle other shared challenges. They will also release a joint statement on the summit which Lee said would be the first time they are doing so in 17 years.

“We agreed to build on the foundations that have been built up to now and to steadily advance our relationship based on good Japan-Korea relations,” Ishiba said.

Lee’s first visit to Tokyo since becoming leader comes amid increasing uncertainty over security alliances in East Asia. Questions also abound over Trump’s engagement in the region and how Ishiba and Lee, both in power for less than a year, will get along.

Both leaders have been focused on strengthening ties and trilateral cooperation with the U.S., rather than delving into some of the issues that had caused friction between their nations in the past. Lee also sought to reassure his Japanese counterpart he won’t backtrack on commitments made by his predecessors.

Those forward-looking themes follow on from their predecessors — former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida — who put aside years of historical antagonism and boosted trilateral ties with the U.S. under then-President Joe Biden.

With all three politicians now replaced, there has been renewed focus on whether the trilateral framework can withstand changes in leadership — Lee’s meeting with Ishiba before his summit with Trump next week presented the first such opportunity to observe the relationship.

“The stable development of bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea will yield benefits not only to our countries, but to the wider region as well,” Ishiba said to Lee in opening remarks on Saturday.

South Korean presidents have traditionally chosen the U.S. as their first destination for bilateral foreign visits. Lee’s pick of Japan signals the increasing importance of relations with its neighbor.

“The visit also gives Lee an opportunity to seek advice from Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who has already held two meetings and multiple calls with Trump,” Bloomberg Economics’ Adam Farrar said.

Focusing on security and economic concerns gives Lee an opportunity to put aside his past hostility to both Japan and the U.S. Left-leaning Lee, who won a June election triggered by the ouster of his conservative predecessor, had been critical of Japan before he came to power and softened his tone since.

In a Liberation Day speech earlier this month, he called Japan an “indispensable partner” and said in an interview with the Yomiuri newspaper that it’s not desirable to overturn agreements with the Japanese government on the so-called comfort women and forced labor issues.

For Ishiba, a successful summit with Lee would support his continued efforts to show the ruling party lawmakers that he is the dependable leader they need to stick with. A recent election setback had brought his position into question.

The two governments also agreed to expand their working holiday program which allows younger citizens to work and live in the other country for up to one year. The number of such visas issued by Japan to Koreans is currently capped at 10,000 a year, according to the Embassy of Japan in South Korea. New rules could be introduced as early as this October, the Asahi newspaper earlier reported.