‘Severe’ Japan-S. Korea ties could return to ‘healthy’ state… if Seoul keeps its promises – Tokyo

Japan and South Korea could return to normal relations if Seoul keeps its word, a Japanese government spokesman said, amid a bitter diplomatic and trade row between the two countries.

Relations between the neighboring states remain in a "severe situation in various areas," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga admitted at a press conference on Wednesday. He described South Korea as an important partner, though, and added that there's still a chance for ties between the two nations to improve – but only if Seoul keeps its promises.

Suga did not specify which commitments would have to be maintained. However, his remark comes ahead a trilateral summit between Japan, South Korea and China next week, where Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Relations between Tokyo and Seoul nosedived this summer when Japan removed South Korea from its list of most-trusted trade partners, citing allegedly lax trade rules that allowed some Japanese products to end up in the hands of North Korea. Seoul denied the allegations and suspected that Tokyo's move was in fact sparked by a South Korean court's decision allowing locals to demand compensation from Japanese companies over forced labor during its WWII occupation.

South Korea downgraded Japan's trading status in response, and almost scrapped a bilateral intelligence-sharing agreement but eventually stopped short of taking such a measure. However, the two nations became locked in a sort of mini-trade war of their own, even though they vowed to continue dialogue.

Meanwhile, a poll held between 2018 and October 2019 showed that, in the event of a conflict between North Korea and Japan, most South Koreans would rather side with their neighboring northern frenemy than their "partner" across the strait.

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