[Editorial] Japan’s new prime minister

South Korea voiced optimism Friday when Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense minister, as its new leader, a move that will make him the next prime minister.

Ishiba, known for his dovish stance on historical issues between South Korea and Japan, secured the party leadership on his fifth attempt by defeating Sanae Takaichi, a conservative candidate, in a runoff vote. He will take over as prime minister from Tuesday, replacing Fumio Kishida.

A senior presidential official in Seoul said Friday that South Korea “will continue to work closely with the new Japanese Cabinet to ensure the positive flow of South Korea-Japan relations.” A source from the Foreign Ministry also expressed optimism that the neighboring countries will keep communication channels open to uphold the “positive bilateral momentum.”

The positive expectations shared by officials in Seoul are based on the improved relations between the two countries that have resulted from the cooperation between President Yoon Suk Yeol and the outgoing Kishida, who had served as Japan’s prime minister for the past three years and announced last month that he would step down.

What is noteworthy is that Ishiba holds a different view on tricky historical issues within the increasingly right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party. He publicly acknowledged Japan’s Pacific War as a “war of aggression” and refrained from visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines Class-A war criminals.

In South Korea, Japanese politicians’ comments that have distorted and whitewashed the country’s past invasions and atrocities have long generated resentment and outrage. Japanese politicians’ visits to the Yasukuni Shrine also attract keen media interest in South Korea.

Against this backdrop, Ishiba’s position that clearly departs from Japanese right-wing politicians stands out, as he claimed that Japan must face up to its responsibility for the war and recognize its history of colonial rule and aggression.

As for relations with South Korea, Ishiba has expressed his wish to restore the amicable relations achieved by the nations' respective leaders, President Kim Dae-jung and Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, in 1998.

In a book published ahead of the election, Ishiba said that relations between South Korea and Japan have “dramatically improved” thanks to the efforts of Yoon, and Japan should use the resulting opportunity to mend bilateral ties.

The forthcoming launch of the Japanese Cabinet led by Ishiba is raising expectations that the two countries will continue to jointly push for better relations in general, even though the two nations will have to work hard to resolve their historical disputes.

But some experts in Seoul hold the view that despite progress made in bilateral relations, Kishida’s overall response to Yoon’s dovish gesture fell short of high expectations, and it is premature to assume that Ishiba’s leadership will bring about dramatic changes.

The underlying reason is that Ishiba’s dovish stance is not a mainstream view within the right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party. And Ishiba himself holds a hard-line stance on territorial issues, such as concerning the Dokdo islets, and sticks to the position that Japan’s reparations were fully resolved with the 1965 Korea-Japan claims settlement agreement.

Another aspect to consider is that Ishiba, who served as defense minister, called for a revision of Japan’s constitution to allow for the creation of legitimate armed forces and supported the creation of a multilateral Asian security cooperation framework -- rhetoric that is interpreted as an assertive approach to Japan’s military expansion in the region.

South Korea and Japan are set to celebrate the 60th anniversary of normalizing their diplomatic relations next year. In the past six decades, relations between the two countries have often been rocky, especially considering their conflicting positions on historical and territorial disputes.

In March last year, the Yoon administration took a future-oriented step toward improving South Korea-Japan relations by proposing a third-party compensation plan for forced labor reparations. It is now Ishiba’s turn to help improve bilateral relations further.