Photo/Illutration Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the start of their summit in Phnom Penh on Nov. 13. (Provided by the Japanese Cabinet Public Relations Office)

PHNOM PENH—The leaders of Japan and South Korea on Nov. 13 temporarily set aside their differences over a wartime compensation issue and met for official talks for the first time in three years.

North Korea’s recent firing of ballistic missiles at an unprecedented rate necessitated the summit between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Yoon Suk-yeol in Phenom Penh.

The talks were held soon after they arrived in Cambodia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference.

It was their first face-to-face talks since they took power.

“The two countries shared the need to hold a summit for defense cooperation” despite their differences in other pending issues, said Kim Sung-han, head of the Office of National Security in the South Korean Presidential Office.

The last time the two countries’ leaders met officially was in December 2019 between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Moon Jae-in.

The main reason for the lack of summits between the two neighbors is the South Korean Supreme Court’s order to Japanese companies to pay compensation to wartime Korean laborers.

After the Nov. 13 meeting, Kishida told reporters that he and Yoon reaffirmed they would seek an early resolution to the issue, citing the acceleration of diplomatic talks.

Yoon had signaled his willingness to mend bilateral relations from the start of his tenure.

But Tokyo, which has vehemently rejected the court order, had been reluctant to make any overtures toward summit talks to repair the strained relations. The Japanese government’s position was that the prime minister would not show up for official talks with the South Korean president unless the compensation issue was settled.

However, North Korea’s increased belligerence has heightened concerns in the region and prompted Tokyo to agree to talks with Seoul that are focused on security.

Kishida’s decision to meet with Yoon could raise the ire of conservative elements within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party at a time when his Cabinet approval rates continue to slide.

Yoon also faces a tough situation.

His administration has been under heavy fire from the South Korean public over the crowd crush that killed more than 150 people in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in Seoul, last month.

With his approval ratings hovering around 30 percent, Yoon even considered canceling his tour abroad, a senior official with the South Korean government said.

However, it was the Japanese side that approached Seoul about holding the summit in Phnom Penh, a ranking official with the Yoon administration said.

Some officials in the Yoon administration had cautioned that holding talks with Kishida at this time could be risky.

They feared it would be practically impossible for Yoon to convince Korean voters of the need to settle the compensation issue if Kishida just reiterated Tokyo’s longstanding position that all compensation claims stemming from Japan’s colonial rule were settled under a 1965 bilateral agreement.

Members of the Yoon administration said they want to repair relations with Japan but they have grown frustrated with Kishida’s unwillingness to budge on the compensation issue.

The Yoon administration has weighed the possibility of not converting into cash the assets of the sued Japanese companies in South Korea that were seized under court order.

It also floated the idea of having a foundation known for its longtime support of former wartime laborers lead efforts to resolve the issue from a humanitarian perspective.

The proposal called for the sued Japanese companies to provide funds to the foundation and call them “donations.”

But the Japanese side has opposed the idea.

(This article was written by Keishi Nishimura and Takuya Suzuki.)

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