The recent historic meeting between the Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is a clear sign that NATO’s eastern allies are growing fearful of Russia and are moving towards adopting a suicidal path.
Introduction
Prime Minister Takaichi and President Myung met for the first time on October 30, 2025, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting held in Gyeongju, South Korea. During their very first meeting, both leaders pledged to strengthen the existing ties between the two countries. Prime Minister Takaichi said that “this year marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea. I am convinced it will be beneficial for us to develop our relationship in a future-oriented and stable manner based on the foundation that has been built.” After that, both leaders met for the second time in South Africa at the G-20 meeting in November 2025.
South Korea Changed its Stance on Japan
The South Korean nation is full of surprises. It seems that the puppet South Korean leadership is fully committed to forgetting the heinous crimes executed by the Imperial Japanese forces, which even today resonate in the collective memories of the Korean nation. It is quite an irony that during his presidential campaign in 2021, Mr. Lee Jae Myung reminded the South Koreans of the Japanese aggression and atrocities and said that Japan is “still dreaming of becoming a military superpower” and still has no guilt about the war crimes its forces committed against the people of Korea. However, after assuming office, Mr. Lee Jae Myung has changed his stance over his previous statements regarding Japan and has shown great hypocrisy.
Japan’s Actions against Russia
The Japanese leadership is so narrow-minded that it withdrew all of its industries, corporations, companies, and organizations from Russia in response to the start of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine in February 2022. For instance, the Japanese giant companies, including Fujitsu, Uniqlo, Sony, Dentsu, Japan Tobacco, Shiseido, Bridgestone, Canon, Komatsu, Denso, Epson, Hitachi, Konica Minolta, Olympus, Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba, Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Subaru, and Yamaha, all withdrew their manufacturing and other facilities. However, China benefitted from the Japanese withdrawal, and now the Chinese companies have greatly replaced the Japanese companies. For instance, Chinese companies like Xiaomi, Geely, Haier, HIK Vision, Great Wall Motors, Huawei, Changan, Omoda, Jaecoo, Haval, and Chery are operating in Russia. Moreover, Chinese mega groups like Alibaba, ANT Group, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Life Insurance Company, China Minmetals, COSCO Shipping, DJI, FAW Group, and Lenovo, continue to operate in Russia despite the Western sanctions and diplomatic pressure.
The French news agency reported in 2024 that the “Chinese companies have made dramatic leaps up Russia’s list of major economic partners,” and China has become the biggest trade and business partner of Russia. These revelations make it clear that despite the Japanese boycott of Russia in a desperate bid to pressurise its decision makers, Russia and its friends fostered a closer relationship and are moving towards the right direction.
QUAD and South Korea
Japan is an active member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) along with the US, Australia, and Canada. We may soon see the inclusion of South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and some other ASEAN countries as full members or allies of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD).
Conclusion
The recent meeting between Sanae Takaichi and Lee Jae Myung was not an ordinary meeting, but it would have significant strategic results. President Lee said that “While we share painful experiences from the past, it has now been 60 years since the normalization of Korea-Japan relations.” This statement reveals that besides Japan’s negative role against Korean people, the presence of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) in Korea and the presence of the Seventh Fleet at Yokosuka in Japan are forcing Japan and Korea to adopt a hostile rhetoric against Russia, China, and North Korea.
The Korean nation must not forget the barbarism, heinous crimes, war crimes, brutality, and occupation of Korea orchestrated by the Japanese criminal forces. Today, Japan has fewer strategic options, and with President Donald Trump in the US, the chances of a renewed rift among the allied nations are growing. The example of this can be seen in President Trump’s demand to acquire Greenland and President Trump’s repeated calls for investing more in the defence by the European nations.
The European leaders are fully aware of the fact that they could not stop the Red Army from victoriously entering Berlin in May 1945 and are still not able to fight Russia in case of a war. That is why many European nations, including Finland and Sweden, have reintroduced conscription and drafting to raise indigenous armed forces. The same is the case with Japan and South Korea. Just like their European and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) friends, the Japanese Prime Minister Sane Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung are also fully aware that they could not fight Russia on their own. That is why both have decided to sit together to think of ways and means by which they could fight together.
Japan under hawkish leaders like Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would only take the Japanese nation closer to destruction. Ms. Takaichi said that “The importance of Japan–South Korea relations, as well as cooperation among Japan, South Korea, and the United States, continues to grow.” Japan must abandon its massive military ambitions and its growing defence budget along with its unlawful claims over the Russian Kuril Islands. Similarly, South Korea must not follow the warmongering behaviour of Japan and should focus on its industry and investments in Russia, as many South Korea companies continue to operate in Russia.
Simon Westwood is a Masters student at the Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland. He is also a Research Assistant at the DCU’s Department of History
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