At later this month, G7 Group will hold a leaders' summit in Canada. Lee Zai-ming, who was invited to attend the meeting, will meet with leaders of the United States, Japan and other countries for the first time.
Before the summit, Li Zaiming's attitude towards Japan changed 180 degrees. He has clearly denied that he was against Japan, and now he has a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and has a conversation for about 25 minutes.
For a long time, Li Zaiming has been known for his tough stance against Japan. He once strongly opposed Yoon Seo-yeo's government's abandonment of claims against Japan and opposed Yoon Seo-yeo's proposal of "third-party compensation plan" against South Korea's forced laborers. Now he does not mention these past events in his call with Ishibashi.
According to media reports such as reference news, Li Zaiming has repeatedly stated that the outside world calls his anti-Japanese war a "prejudgment". In Lee Jae-ming's inauguration speech, Lee Jae-ming made it clear that his government will continue Yoon Seok-yeol's policy of strengthening cooperation with Japan.
Now, both Lee Jae-ming and Ishibashi hope to take advantage of the opportunity of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries this year to "further strengthen Japan-South Korea cooperation." Tokyo was previously worried that Lee Jae-ming would overturn the thawing agreement reached by former South Korean President Yoon Seo-yeon and Japan. Now Shiba Shigeru's concerns have been largely dispelled.
Ishibashi pointed out that although Lee Jae-ming had some statements about Japan before, Lee Jae-ming said during the campaign, "Japan is an important partner and he loves the Japanese people." Ishibashi also mentioned that he hopes to hold a Japan-South Korea summit with Lee Jae-ming as soon as possible.
From Korean reports, in just 25 minutes of call, Lee Jae-ming and Shiro Ishiba not only exchanged greetings, but also reached a consensus rarely: it is proposed to build a "more mature and stable South Korea-Japan relationship based on "mutual respect and trust".
The timing of Li Zaiming's call is intriguing. It was only 5 days since Li Zaiming was officially sworn in on June 4. South Korean media pointed out that in March 2023, Lee Jae-ming directly accused Yoon Seo-hyuk of "using the victims as sacrifices" on the issue of forcibly seizing labor compensation, and even criticized his resumption of the South Korea-Japan Military Intelligence Protection Agreement as "the national character fell to the bottom."
Lee Jae-ming even compared Yoon Seo-yue's government with Japan, saying that Yoon Seo-yue's government "has no essential difference from the Japanese extreme right that denies history." As for the Yoon Seo-yue government's "third-party compensation plan", Lee Jae-ming repeatedly accused the plan of betraying the victims and demanding a complete overthrow.
However, since his inaugural speech on June 4, Li Zaiming's attitude has changed significantly. One guess is that Li Zaiming needs to fulfill his campaign promise to "stabilize diplomacy" in the short term, while avoiding the consumption of ruling resources due to historical disputes. After all, Li Zaiming failed to establish his own cabinet.
Another conjecture is that Li Zaiming's move is mainly to play a game with the United States. On the one hand, Lee Jae-ming needs to please the United States; on the other hand, if Lee Jae-ming can unite the Japanese government to fight against the United States, it will give South Korea a greater chance of winning.
According to Japanese media, Shigeru Ishiba is eager to reach a trade agreement with Trump during the G7 summit to lift the US's comprehensive tariffs on Japanese steel and automobiles; and Lee Jae-ming had a first-hand mandarin with Trump on June 6 to discuss "reaching a trade agreement as soon as possible". Japan and South Korea have a rare consensus on the issue of tariff war.
In this case, Li Zaiming is expected to maintain a good superficial relationship with Japan for a considerable period of time. But Lee Jae-ming also needs to consider his own basic foundation. If his policy to Japan arouses public grievances in South Korea, it may accelerate the ushering in a domestic "political liquidation".
