America’s closest Indo-Pacific allies are cosying up
But the rapprochement between South Korea and Japan is brittle
WHEN Kishida Fumio arrives in Seoul on May 7th, he will become the first Japanese prime minister to make an official visit to South Korea in more than a decade. His trip is testament to how fast the testy relationship between the neighbours and American allies has improved since early March, when Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea’s president, announced a plan to end a festering dispute over Japanese wartime forced labour and then jetted to Tokyo for a summit.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Back to the future”
From the May 6th 2023 edition
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