Yoon likely to warm up Tokyo-Seoul ties but wartime issues remain

Step one- Reinstate the 2015 "Permanent and Irreversible" Comfort Women Agreement, negotiated and signed by both South Korea and Japan, but ripped up by Moon.

South Korea can not expect any improvement in relations unless they are willing to uphold agreements and treaties, thereby regaining credibility and Japan's trust. Without trust, nothing will happen.

Completely agree with Ossan.

No future relations or agreements have any value or meaning if they can be destroyed or used as toilet paper by future Korean administration that is anti-Japan to the max.

You signed one agreement under Park, then 2 years later Moon goes to the bathroom and flushes down toilet.

If the 2015 agreement under Park not good enough dont forget about the Billions paid in 1965 agreement to settle all issues as Final and Irreversible.

How serious do you want Koreans to take this agreements as Final and Irreversible if Japan is always willing to pay more, and sign more agreements.

This is a misguided article.

Korea won't cooperate on anything related to Russia because of deep relationships in both civilian and defense; pretty much the entire suite of Korean missiles have their origins in Russia, made possible by Russia's generous tech transfer in the 90s and 00 and had a couple of joint projects, such as KM-SAM/S-350E air defense systems and APS for K2 and T-14 Armata tanks. I recall there are several classified joint projects not disclosed to public either. Korean companies also have deep roots in Russian market; the biggest automaker in Russia by market share is Hyundai, Samsung is the no 1 phone and electronics brand in Russia, Russians bought tens of billions of worth of ships from Korea, etc.

As for the Liancourt Rocks overflight, Russia explained it was a human error and never repeated such mistake again, instead opting to plot the flight path closer to Japan to ensure they don't violate Korean airspace over the Liancourt Rocks.

So Korea and Russia aren't enemies, and Korea would have stayed out of this sanction BS if it wasn't for US arm twisting.

Likewise Korea and Japan share nothing with regards to Chinese security threats. China stays out of the Yellow Sea half-line while picking confrontations against Japan on East China Sea, simply because Japan is the weaker country of two. 

@Ossan Japan

Reinstate the 2015 "Permanent and Irreversible" Comfort Women Agreement

This could actually happen, but comfort women themselves have already rejected the deal and the next Democratic administration will throw it in the trash bin anyway.

South Korea can not expect any improvement in relations unless they are willing to uphold agreements and treaties

The problem is that ANY presidential executive action can be court challenged by civic groups and law firms. And most Koreans aren't interested in improving ties with Japan; they see Japan as a failed state not worth wasting one's time and effort on.

@ReasonandWisdomNippon

dont forget about the Billions paid in 1965 agreement to settle all issues as Final and Irreversible.

1) The 1965 treaty doesn't cover damages.

2) The Korean supreme court has already made a final binding ruling on the issue and there is nothing Yoon can do to undo it. Asset seizures of Japanese companies to compensate forced laborers will continue.

The Governments of Japan and South Korea (new administration) are raking over old ground.

Ground hog day, lasting another five years until the next administration.

The 1965 treaty is legally bullet proof and restored "normal" relations.

The then SK regime negotiated and appalling deal. But a Treaty all the same.

And Treaties of this nature are enshrined International Law . Most importantly Jurisdiction resides with the ICJ without any interference of either SK or Japan domestic court structure.

The Court’s jurisdiction is twofold: it decides, in accordance with international law, disputes of a legal nature that are submitted to it by States (jurisdiction in contentious cases); and it gives advisory opinions on legal questions at the request of the organs of the United Nations, specialized agencies or one related organization authorized to make such a request (advisory jurisdiction).

The tragic case of the ageing comfort women is another matter.

However, until Yoon Suk Yeol newly elected, and South Korea's government accepts the fact, these ground hog days will continue.

@Samit

You seem shocked with Lee has lost it

This could actually happen, but comfort women themselves have already rejected the deal

You might want to elaborate that they are so-called CW victims under Chong Dae Hyup, both of which are now being doubted by SKorean people themselves with their weird testimonies and the fraud cases of the ex pro-north leader.

and the next Democratic administration will throw it in the trash bin anyway.

This. You might want to call it next pro-North Korea administration. or you might want to suggest as long as the peninsula is divided, this CW agreement will be always flipped depending on who will be the president, which International Law could not allow for to happen

I say, Lee Jae-myung didn't not know and didn't even care. He just pushed textbook anti-Japanism forward with K-drama flavored for political wins stupidly . What South Korea must do is to formulate it’s own argument(s) with undeniable proofs rather than just relying on Kono Danwa and the stupidest UN special reports, should stop stupidly and blindly paying the highest respects to those disgusting liars , no matter how old these self-claimed victims are, some of including whom Chong Dae Hyup mysteriously imported from China.

Notes to new PM:

Do something about that ridiculous haircut.

Resign, because you're a reactionary who sees women as baby-making machines.

Not "PM"- President

What wartime issue? You mean the one that finished over 50 years ago or the one happening in Ukraine right now?

Samit doesn't know where North Korea gets its technology from. I suggest he start reading 38 North before adding more mistaken information to the discussion. DPRKs missile technology came originally from Egypt in the form of Scuds transferred from Egypt to DPRK in the early 1970s. Subsequent DPRK missile designs are derivatives of, and mostly improvements to, the Scud. The old USSR specifically refused to provide DPRK with missile technology, which is why they sought to obtain missiles elsewhere. Egypt was happy to fill the order. Using shell companies the DPRK has had success obtaining dual use technologies from the US and EU that are prohibited for sale to DPRK. They have also sent a great many students to top universities around the world to study engineering, nuclear science and other militarily useful subjects, in the process learning the latest western technologies and bringing this knowledge back home to North Korea.

He also does not seem to understand that all three Kim's who led DPRK greatly distrusted both China and Russia. They seek an independent nuclear deterrent precisely because they cannot count on either China or Russia to come to their aid if the US and ROK attack them. Kim Il Sung detested Mao. He felt Mao needlessly weakened China with the Cultural Revolution and outright hated him after Mao refused Kim's demand that normalization or relations between China and the US first require the US to remove all forces from South Korea. Kim Il Sung learned not to trust the USSR when they reneged on their mutual defense pact with Vietnam when China invaded in 1979. Kim realized any promises from the USSR were empty. It was these things that drove and continue to drive DPRKs urgent pursuit of both nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them.