{"id":15803,"date":"2026-05-02T08:05:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T08:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/15803\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T08:05:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T08:05:44","slug":"how-trump-is-inadvertently-bringing-japan-south-korea-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/15803\/","title":{"rendered":"How Trump is inadvertently bringing Japan, South Korea together"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/japan?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Japan<\/a> and <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/south-korea?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">South Korea<\/a> are closing ranks as they prepare for high-level meetings aimed at steadying ties amid growing regional volatility, with analysts saying the diplomatic push reflects shared concern over China, North Korea and the reliability of US commitments under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Both countries appear willing to put past differences aside, at least for now, as they confront an assertive China and an unpredictable US administration that has unsettled long-standing allies and threatened to withdraw troops from Europe.<\/p>\n<p>When <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/lee-jae-myung?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lee Jae Myung<\/a> became president of South Korea last year, \u201cmany people in Japan initially expected bilateral relations to deteriorate because of remarks about Japan that Lee had made previously\u201d, said Tadashi Anno, a political-science professor at Tokyo\u2019s Sophia University.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cBut he has taken a more conciliatory line and that has been much appreciated in Tokyo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1o401188 css-16lwkd e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1777709144_915_maxresdefault.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"SCMPYoutubeVideoPreview-PreviewDuration\" class=\"css-1vqvq42 e1o401181\">01:49<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"SCMPYoutubeVideoPreview-PreviewTitle\" class=\"css-zasw6y e1o401182\">Table tennis diplomacy: a sign of warmer ties between South Korea and Japan<\/p>\n<p>Table tennis diplomacy: a sign of warmer ties between South Korea and Japan<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">That easing of tensions, combined with the deteriorating security situation in the region, has allowed the resumption of shuttle diplomacy between the two capitals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan and South Korea are closing ranks as they prepare for high-level meetings aimed at steadying ties amid&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12779,549,12,12778,13,374,1707,2211,14,4136,8,449,33,1922,6212,636,659,2311,657,2796,2234,52,3282,25,2537],"class_list":{"0":"post-15803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-ahn-gyu-back","9":"tag-beijing","10":"tag-china","11":"tag-dokdo-islands","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-east-asia","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-germany","16":"tag-iran","17":"tag-italy","18":"tag-japan","19":"tag-middle-east","20":"tag-nihon","21":"tag-north-korea","22":"tag-pyongyang","23":"tag-russia","24":"tag-seoul","25":"tag-shinjiro-koizumi","26":"tag-south-korea","27":"tag-spain","28":"tag-taiwan-strait","29":"tag-tokyo","30":"tag-ukraine","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-xi-jinping"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}