Japan & South Korea Relations

The yearslong stalemate between Japan-South Korea has been thawing in the past year, with the leaders of both countries working toward rapprochement and greater trilateral cooperation with the United States. Chinese ambitions, North Korean threats and the Russian war have rallied the three allies toward greater cooperation, leading to a historic leader-level summit at Camp David in August 2023. The U.S., Japanese and South Korean officials are now working to create enduring structures that they hope would endure shifting political dynamics in the three countries. But challenges remain, including domestic political tensions, that threaten the fragile progress made this year. A look at the evolution in Japan-South Korea relations this year and the challenges that lie ahead.

Michelle Ye Hee Lee is Tokyo/Seoul bureau chief for The Washington Post, covering Japan and the Korean peninsula. Her coverage includes foreign policy, domestic politics, gender, climate and more. Michelle joined The Post in 2014 as a national political reporter, covering money in politics, congressional and presidential campaigns, and political fact-checks. Prior to The Post, she was a political investigations reporter covering Maricopa County and the state legislature at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, Arizona. Michelle studied international relations and English at Emory University. She served two terms as the national president of the Asian American Journalists Association from 2019 through 2022, representing more than 2,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists in the U.S. and Asia.

This lecture series is generously sponsored by the Japan Foundation.