South Korea and Japan should take a fresh look at their relations amid a rapidly changing global order, the top trade official in Seoul said, following the election of a new president, who is calling for a mending of ties.
"It’s high time to have a fresh look at bilateral relations and forge forward-looking, more constructive relations between Korea and Japan,” South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said in an interview Thursday. "It’s important to keep politics separate from economic and trade investment when we talk about multilateral trade platforms.”
Relations between the two Asian economic heavyweights remain strained over trade and historical disputes, and improving them may be among the top agenda items to be pursued by Yoon Suk-yeol, who was elected South Korean president after Wednesday’s vote.