Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made history by becoming the first Japanese leader to visit South Korea in over a decade. During his visit, Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to deepen cooperation to tackle escalating global security challenges in the region. They expressed the need to strengthen security cooperation to address North Korea’s ongoing “provocative actions” and keep the door open for dialogue. Negotiations are in progress to revive their countries’ military intelligence-sharing pact, which was stalled due to their wartime forced labor dispute in 2019. Kishida expressed his condolences for the many Koreans who suffered during Japan’s colonial rule and highlighted the importance of cooperation with South Korea. Yoon stated that cooperation between Japan and South Korea is necessary for world peace and prosperity.
Kishida’s visit came after Yoon signed the Washington Declaration with President Joe Biden during his visit to the United States. The declaration outlines a set of U.S. extended deterrence measures involving the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula. The United States and South Korea expressed confidence in each other’s extended deterrence commitments and pledged to consult on any possible nuclear weapons employment in the region. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to make the United States and South Korea realize that they “are bound to lose more than they get and face a greater threat” over their “expansion of war drills.”