President Yoon's exit unlikely to sour South Korea-Japan ties

Speculation is rife in a section of the international public spectrum that the recent ouster of Yoon Suk Yeol from the presidency of South Korea might come to sour ties between Seoul and Tokyo.

- ABHIJITHA SINGH

It is being surmised that in the presidential poll, now scheduled to be held early next month (June 3) in South Korea, the Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung is likely to emerge as successor to Yoon in the Blue House.

Lee has long been known for his hard-line views on Japan. Unlike Yoon, Lee may not bury South Korea's historical grievances, including the issue of compensation for former civilian workers from the Korean Peninsula during Japanese colonial rule, with Japan.

In 2023, Lee had staged a 24-day hunger strike opposing then President Yoon's stance toward Tokyo. He had also called Yoon's policy of trilateral U.S.-South Korea-Japan military cooperation "pro-Japanese." One, however, thinks it would be naive to assume Lee would resort to any policies that would strain relations between South Korea and Japan.

There is little substantial difference between the so-called right-wing People Power Party and the centre-left Democratic Party of Korea. The class character of the two parties is more or less the same. Both of them invoke nationalism and support a strong South Korea. Both have had ties with the powerful chaebols (family-owned business conglomerates).