When 'Macho Man' met 'Mr. Status quo'

From left, Bill Gates, Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President Joe Biden, Connie Mudenda (RED) ambassador, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Global Fund Executive Director Peter Sands pose for a photo during the Global Fund's Seventh Replenishment Conference, Wednesday, in New York. AP-Yonhap

Korea touts Yoon-Kishida meeting as 'summit,' while Japan downplays it as 'informal talks'

By Kang Hyun-kyung

There was much back and forth between South Korea and Japan up until the moment their leaders actually met in New York on Wednesday (local time) for a meeting.

Days before President Yoon Suk-yeol's second official overseas trip to three nations ― namely Great Britain, the United States and Canada_ since he was inaugurated on May 10, the presidential office told reporters in a confident tone that Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would meet on the sidelines of their speeches at the U.N. Kim Tae-hyo, deputy director of the National Security Office, emphasized that the two leaders happily agreed to meet during their visits in New York.

Soon, Japanese media outlets released information about the Yoon-Kishida meeting that was not consistent with what South Korean reporters were told. "Nothing has been confirmed yet," Japanese media reported, citing Japan's powerful chief cabinet secretary.

The prospects for a much-anticipated summit had been foggy up until Yoon and Kishida eventually met Wednesday, because the two sides released contradictory information.

It was early Thursday morning (KST) when the Korean media learned that the meeting was indeed being held, as the presidential office confirmed it in a text message sent to the reporters.

"The South Korea-Japan summit has started just now. Journalists are good to report about the event immediately," it read.

The two sides are still in a tug of war even after the event. Now, they are poles apart regarding what to call the Yoon-Kishida meeting. South Korea describes it as a "summit," whereas Japan downplays it as "informal talks," rather than formal summit talks.

Hosaka Yuji, a professor in the liberal arts department at Sejong University in Seoul, said that President Yoon's foreign policy advisors crossed the line and broke international norms concerning diplomacy.

"When the officials of two countries sit down to prepare for a summit, they discuss a lot of things. Not only do they discuss and agree on when and where the summit will be held, but they also try to narrow their differences on how and when they are to release the information about the summit to the media," he told The Korea Times. "Once these things are sorted out, then, the two sides announce the summit simultaneously."

He claimed South Korea didn't play by these rules when it announced President Yoon's summit with the Japanese prime minister. "I understand that the South Korean government made public information that had not been agreed upon, hence, the problem," he said, adding that this is what he read in Japanese media outlets. "This is unusual and (indeed) unprecedented as South Korea has never done that before."

Hosaka said Kishida had summit talks with some 30 world leaders during his U.N. visit this time, noting that he would have found it difficult to squeeze in another summit with South Korea into his already busy summit schedule. Kishida's busy schedule at the U.N. seems to be one reason why the Japanese leader had informal talks with Yoon.

President Yoon Suk-yeol shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before they sit down for a summit in New York, Wednesday (local time). Yonhap

Shin Kak-soo, former South Korean ambassador to Japan, said Japan seems to have been displeased with what the South Korean government did.

"Although they agreed to have a summit, there would have been some minor details that were not agreed upon. These could be about the venue or the format of the summit. But the presidential office went ahead and made public the summit plan. So, the Japanese side would have felt displeased when South Korea publicly announced the event, which was still in progress at that time, while there were issues that were yet to be resolved. They also seemed to be annoyed by the expression that the two sides happily agreed upon the summit," he said.

Shin shared the same view as Hosaka that the presidential office had acted inappropriately when handling the press briefing on the Yoon-Kishida summit. "In the case that there are still issue areas that remained unresolved, neither side is supposed to make a summit public," he said.

The political backgrounds of the two leaders also seem to have played a part in creating tension between the two countries.

Yoon had a long career as a prosecutor before he declared his bid to run in Korea's presidential election last year. He spent less than a year in politics before he was elected in the March 9 election. Since he joined the prosecution as an entry-level prosecutor at the age of 31, he had lived his entire life as a prosecutor before being elected president. His decades-long involvement in the law enforcement field likely trained him to be tough, decisive and persistent. But his scant experience in politics is seen as his decisive weakness, as he has had few chances to develop his political acumen.

On the contrary, Kishida is portrayed as a "dovish moderate" in the Japanese media. He is calm, honest and risk-averse, and these traits helped him earn the nickname, "Mr. Status quo."

"Kishida is seen as a weak and indecisive leader who answers most questions and proposals by saying, 'Kentosuru (I will consider it).' It has become his nickname," said Jeff Kingston, a professor of history and Asian Studies at Temple University Japan.

Kishida has years of experience in the Cabinet, becoming the longest-serving foreign minister of Japan. His years of training as a top diplomat would have sharpened his diplomatic awareness and made him feel uncomfortable about undiplomatic behavior.

So when Yoon, a politician who is criticized by feminists and others for his macho tendencies and often crude, off-the-cuff style, works with a dovish man like Kishida, whose personal traits are almost the opposite, a clash seems to be inevitable.

"Japanese Prime Minister Kishida is depicted as a passive politician in Japanese media outlets. Compared to him, President Yoon is a man who pushes (people) around to make things work," said Shin.

Nonetheless, he said such personal differences seemed not to have much to do with the pre-and post-meeting tug of war between the two sides. Shin said Kishida is losing ground at home as public opinion about his leadership has worsened since he decided to hold a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan's ties with the Unification Church has also played a part in his falling approval ratings, Shin said.

On the other hand, Hosaka is skeptical about the impact of personality differences on summit diplomacy. He said that there is an international system in place and it is this system that enables leaders to improve relations with other countries.

South Korean President, Yoon Suk-yeol, addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on Tuesday. AFP-Yonhap