Overview
- Japanese government officials welcomed Lee’s measured address as a platform for rebuilding trust and assessed it in light of growing security threats from North Korea and China.
- He publicly urged Japan to confront its colonial past to preserve bilateral trust but stopped short of specifying disputes over forced labor or comfort women.
- Lee pledged to gradually restore key measures of the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement suspended in June 2024 to reduce incidents along the DMZ.
- The speech underscored Lee’s “practical diplomacy” approach, prioritizing tangible economic and security benefits over ideological confrontation.
- He is set to embark on shuttle diplomacy trips to Washington and Tokyo later this month to formalize trilateral coordination on regional security.