South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Japan is an "indispensable partner” for economic growth in a speech commemorating the end of Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, signaling a departure from his previous hawkish rhetoric as he prepares to visit Tokyo this month.
"Japan is our neighbor across the sea as well as an indispensable partner in our economic development,” Lee said at a ceremony on Friday to mark the 80th anniversary of liberation. "We will seek forward-looking, mutually beneficial cooperation with Japan while holding frequent meetings and frank dialogue through shuttle diplomacy.”
The comments come at a time when relations between South Korea and Japan — and their trilateral ties with Washington — have come under scrutiny as Lee sets his foreign policy direction after taking office a little over two months ago. The South Korean president has spoken harshly of Japan in the past, declaring in 2016 that "Japan is an enemy country.”
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