The leaders of South Korea and Japan are scheduled to meet next week for a summit on strengthening ties.

The announcement came days after South Korea unveiled a step toward resolving soured relations stemming from Tokyo’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

According to the South Korean and Japanese governments, President Yoon Suk Yeol is to visit Japan on March 16 to March 17, 2023 at the invitation of the Japanese government and will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Yoon’s office disclosed in a statement that the summit will be “an important milestone” in the development of South Korea-Japan relations.

The statement added that South Korea hopes the two countries will “overcome an unfortunate past” and expand cooperation on security, the economy and other sectors as a result of the visit.

Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan informed reporters, “I hope to make (Yoon’s visit) an opportunity to work toward strengthening our relationship.”

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno separately divulged that Tokyo’s invitation to the South Korean leader was the result of close communication between the two countries since Yoon’s inauguration last May.

“South Korea is an important neighbor that Japan should cooperate with in various issues,” Matsuno opined.

On Monday, March 6, 2023, South Korea announced that it would raise local funds to compensate Koreans who won damage awards in lawsuits against two Japanese companies over their forced labor during the 1910-45 colonial period.

The South Korean plan does not require the Japanese companies — Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — to contribute to the reparations.

Bilateral ties suffered a major setback after South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2018 ordered the two Japanese companies to compensate some of their former Korean employees for forced labor.

The companies and the Japanese government refused to comply with the rulings and insisted that all compensation issues were settled by a 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral relations and was accompanied by hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid and loans from Tokyo to Seoul.

In 2019, Japan imposed export controls on chemicals vital to South Korea’s semiconductor industry. South Korea, then governed by Yoon’s liberal predecessor Moon Jae-in, threatened to terminate a military intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo, a major symbol of their security cooperation with Washington.

U.S Hails South Korea’s Reparation Plan

President Joe Biden hailed South Korea’s announcement as “a groundbreaking new chapter” of cooperation between two of the United States’ closest allies.

Kishida reiterated on Thursday that Japan welcomes the South Korean plan. On Monday, he said he stood by Japan’s previous expression of regrets and apologies for its colonial wrongdoing.

Since taking office, Yoon, a conservative has strived for stronger ties with Japan as a way to boost cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo and Washington to better deal with the growing North Korean nuclear threat.

Observers say improved ties with Japan are also necessary amid global supply chain challenges and strategic competition between the U.S. and China.

In September, Yoon and Kishida held the first summit between the two countries in nearly three years on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. They agreed to accelerate efforts to mend their frayed ties.

The South Korean plan to end the disputes over the 2018 rulings elicited fierce opposition from some of the forced labor victims involved in the lawsuits, their supporters, and liberal opposition politicians.

They have called the South Korean step a diplomatic surrender and demanded direct payments and a fresh apology from Japan over the issue.

However, on Tuesday, Yoon defended his government’s step, saying it’s crucial for Seoul to build future-oriented ties with Tokyo.

After months of negotiations with Tokyo over the court rulings, South Korean officials said they had determined there was little chance of Tokyo reversing its position. They said they also considered the advanced age of the surviving victims.