So far President Lee is trying to maintain positive relations with Tokyo. How long will it be though before he brings up Dokdo, comfort women, or some other hotly contested topic to deflect attention from a domestic issue?:
President Lee Jae Myung will visit Tokyo on Aug. 23 to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Lee’s office said Wednesday.
The meeting will involve a dinner hosted by Ishiba during Lee’s two-day working visit while on his way to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump on Aug. 25.
Lee’s trip to Japan is meant to resume a shuttle diplomacy — through which leaders of the two countries take turns traveling to a counterpart’s country frequently without diplomatic formalities — Lee’s spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a briefing at the presidential office in Seoul.
You can read more at the link.
This was a pretty big screw up by whoever was captaining the ship:
Japan’s Ministry of Defense has denied a Japanese media report this week that Chinese naval vessels fired two warning shots at a Japanese warship that sailed into China’s territorial waters last year. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Suzutsuki on July 4, 2024, inadvertently sailed within 12 nautical miles of the coast of Zhejiang province, Kyodo News reported at the time.
The Japanese destroyer was monitoring a live-fire exercise by Chinese forces in Hangzhou Bay, according to the report. After repeatedly warning the destroyer to change course, Chinese vessels fired two warning shots — one before it entered territorial waters and another after it crossed into the area, Kyodo reported Sunday, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.
You can read more at the link.
Japan’s defense build up continues:
Japan will deploy its first F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters in the southern part of the country next month, part of efforts to bolster defenses in the Nansei Islands, according to the Ministry of Defense. Four of the short-takeoff, vertical-landing aircraft will arrive Aug. 7 at the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Nyutabaru Air Base in Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, according to a schedule released Friday by the ministry.
The Nansei islands, also known as the Ryukyus, stretch from Kyushu to within 70 miles of Taiwan. They form a key link in the so-called first island chain, a strategic barrier for China’s navy in the event of a conflict. The F-35Bs will be flown from the United States by U.S. pilots, a spokesman with Japan’s Air Staff said by phone Monday, without providing additional details.
You can read more at the link, but the basing of F-35’s in Kyushu along with the Type-12 missiles shows how Japan’s is fortifying its southern islands in preparation for any Chinese aggression in the region.
The arms race in Northeast Asia driven by deterring Chinese expansion continues:
Japan plans to deploy upgraded long-range missiles on its southernmost main island by spring as it continues to bolster defenses in the Nansei Islands, according to local media. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force is finalizing arrangements to station an upgraded version of its Type-12 surface-to-ship missile at Camp Kengun in Kumamoto prefecture on Kyushu by March 31, Kyodo News reported Monday, citing unnamed government sources.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani confirmed Tuesday that the ministry intends to deploy the missiles this fiscal year but is still evaluating potential locations. “The Ministry of Defense intends to continue working to build standoff defense capabilities more quickly in light of the most severe and complex security environment since the end of the war,” Nakatani said at a regular press conference in Tokyo.
Japan faces mounting security concerns from China, which contests Japan’s claim to the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, along with North Korea’s advancing ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. Nakatani also cited Russia, which has participated in recent joint military training with China near Japan, in the ministry’s 2025 white paper.
You can read more at the link.
