South Korea’s Lee in Japan to shore up ties before meeting Trump

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President Lee Jae Myung has criticised past efforts to improve ties strained by resentment over Japans colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

PHOTO: REUTERS

TOKYO - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung arrived in Japan on Aug 23 for a summit expected to reaffirm security cooperation between the two East Asian neighbours before Mr Lee meets US President Donald Trump in Washington on Aug 25.

On his first official visit to Japan since taking office in June, Mr Lee will meet Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the premiers residence in Tokyo to discuss bilateral ties, including closer security cooperation with the United States under a trilateral pact signed by their predecessors.

The snap election victory of the liberal Mr Lee - following the impeachment of conservative

President Yoon Suk Yeol for declaring martial law

Mr Lee has criticised past efforts to improve ties strained by lingering resentment over Japans 1910 to 1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

The South Korean government last week expressed “deep disappointment and regret” after Japanese officials visited a shrine in Tokyo to Japan’s war dead that many Koreans see as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression.

So far, however, Mr Lee has said he backs closer relations with Japan, including in his first meeting with Mr Ishiba on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada in June.

Despite their differences, the two US allies rely heavily on Washington to counter China’s