South Korea and Possible Re-Set with China, Russia, and North Korea (Japan)
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
South Korea, under the former leader President Yoon Suk Yeol, took an anti-North Korea and anti-Russian Federation stance.
China was also worried that Yoon would join the anti-China containment alliance uttered by America and Japan at the drop of a hat. However, the newly elected leader of South Korea (President Lee Jae-myung) seeks a reset with China, North Korea, and the Russian Federation if possible.
If President Lee can reset ties, this bodes well for Northeast Asia. At the same time, it will put pressure on Japan to seek accommodation with China. Hence, a far cry from the former leader of Japan, Fumio Kishida, who spoke negatively about China and the Russian Federation.
Yonhap News reports, “President Lee Jae-myung asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to play a constructive role for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in their first phone talks on Tuesday, Lee’s office said.”
Kang Yu-jung ( the South Korean presidential spokesperson) said, “Lee expressed hope that South Korea and China will actively promote exchanges and cooperation in various areas, including the economy, security, culture and people-to-people exchanges, based on the spirit of mutual benefit and equality.”
The Russian Federation will seek to build relations with the new leader of South Korea. Accordingly, with Lee seeking to reduce tensions with North Korea, this bodes well for a reset between the Russian Federation and South Korea.
Lee’s geopolitical policies are based on implementing a “pragmatic diplomacy.”
President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation notes a possible thaw with South Korea. If so, this will put more pressure on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to take a similar approach (even if less overt than South Korea under Lee).
Overall, it is hoped that Lee can reset relations with China, North Korea, and the Russian Federation – and this in turn will encourage Japan to step back from anti-China and anti-Russia rhetoric under Kishida. Therefore, the current leaders of Japan and South Korea (Ishiba and Lee) have the opportunity to reduce regional tensions in Northeast Asia.
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi and her website – Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK
http://facebook.com/moderntokyotimes
s.