The leaders of Japan and South Korea on Tuesday aimed to drum up excitement for closer ties following their summit. Literally.
After a meeting focused on economic security, historical issues and boosted exchanges, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi invited South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to join her in a drum session in Nara, where the two leaders jammed to the songs ¡°Golden,¡± from the Netflix series ¡°KPop Demon Hunters,¡± and K-pop supergroup BTS¡¯ hit song ¡°Dynamite.¡±
Takaichi, an avid heavy metal fan who played the drums in college, guided Lee through the performance, with both leaders wearing blue uniforms prepared by the Japanese side that bore their names in English and their country¡¯s national flags, a symbol of friendship and mutual respect, officials said.
¡°When we met at the APEC summit last year, he mentioned that playing the drums was a dream of his, so I prepared this as a surprise,¡± Takaichi said in a post to X, referring to the pair¡¯s meeting on the sidelines of October¡¯s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea.
Scenes from a drum session by the Japan¨CROK leaders.
Lee expressed delight at the surprise, though he admitted in a post to X that his performance may have been ¡°clumsy.¡±
¡°Even if the tempo was slightly off, our hearts were in sync trying to match the rhythm,¡± Lee wrote. ¡°Likewise, we will build a future-oriented South Korea-Japan relationship with one heart.¡±
Takaichi also presented Lee with two pairs of drumsticks that the two leaders then signed and exchanged.
¡°The event was specially arranged by the Japanese side to symbolically showcase the rapport and closeness between the two leaders,¡± Yonhap news quoted South Korean presidential spokesperson Kim Nam-joon as saying. ¡°It turned the informal talks into a unique moment of cultural exchange.¡±
Following their roughly 25-minute jam session, the two leaders and Lee¡¯s wife sat down for a formal dinner, enjoying a Japanese-style meal featuring ingredients from Nara, Takaichi¡¯s hometown and the site of the summit.
One of Takaichi¡¯s key goals of the meeting ¡ª the first attempt at ¡°shuttle diplomacy,¡± or routine mutual visits to each other¡¯s country, under her government ¡ª was to cement a personal relationship and bring the neighbors closer at a time of growing global turmoil.
Initial fears of a return to chilly ties, something not unseen in the Japan-South Korea relationship, were dispelled when Lee showed a willingness to apply his ¡°pragmatic¡± diplomatic approach even to Japan, shelving controversial issues and focusing on regional stability and deepened cooperation with their mutual ally, the United States.
The conservative Takaichi and liberal Lee sit on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and fears had lingered that it would be...
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