For subscribers
Seeing eye to eye? What the Takaichi-Lee snapshot says about Japan-South Korea ties
Concerns over national security – including on energy – take precedence over historical baggage.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi posing with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s glasses during her visit to Andong on May 19.
PHOTO: REUTERS
James D.J. Brown
In January, when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met South Korean President Lee Jae-myung in her hometown in Nara, they donned matching outfits and played the drums to K-pop hits.
On May 19, when Ms Takaichi paid Mr Lee a visit in his hometown of Andong, she came bearing a gift of spectacle frames made in Sabae, the eyeglass capital of Japan. While Mr Lee was trying them on, she borrowed the South Korean president’s glasses and tried them on.
