President Yoon Suk Yeol extended another olive branch to mend relations between South Korea and Japan, saying Tokyo has “transformed from a militaristic aggressor into a partner” during his March 1 Independence Movement Day speech, Wednesday. “Now, more than a century after the March 1 Independence Movement, Japan has transformed from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner that shares universal values with us,” Yoon said during a ceremony to commemorate the peaceful protest that took place in 1919 to resist Japan s colonial rule.
The Japanese government s approval of a massive rearmament program to counter China and North Korea s threats poses a new task for South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to look into ways to take advantage of Tokyo s military buildup to serve Seoul s security interests, according to experts. “The recent updates of Japan s national security strategy now demand South Korea to explore how it will use Japan s military buildup to contribute to the South Korea-U.S.-Japan trilateral security cooperation to counter North Korea s nuclear ambitions,” said Jin Chang-soo, the director of Sejong Institute s Center for Japanese Studies.