JAPAN: Pres Moon Will Not Travel To Tokyo Amid Souring Relations

The Blue House has confirmed that South Korean President Moon Jae-in will not travel to Tokyo at the end of the week for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games amidst a continued souring in relations between the neighbours.

• The statement said that the decision was made "after comprehensive consideration of other circumstances". While this could refer to the increase in COVID-19 cases in Japan and the state of emergency in place in Tokyo, it is more likely to refer to the uproar caused by comments reported to have been made by a senior diplomat at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul over the weekend. The official supposedly made a sexual innuendo about President Moon in relation to his efforts in improving Japanese-Korean relations.
• Tensions have also spiked over the ownership of the Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan, a long-running dispute between the two nations.
• Moon's visit, being talked about by Bloomberg as a done deal only days ago, was intended to allow both leaders to clear the air. However, it now appears that bilateral relations will remain frosty at best for the time being. For the US this comes as a blow, given Washington, D.C.'s attempts to improve Japan-Korea relations in order to present a united front against any potential Chinese aggression in the South or East China Seas.