Japan imposes new sanctions on Russia 0:47
(CNN) --
By uniting Western democracies against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has accomplished something his critics thought impossible.
Before the unprovoked war launched by Moscow, European nations were divided over issues ranging from Russian pipelines to Brexit.
And, with longstanding resentments dating back to Trump-era trade disputes and the war in Iraq, some even seemed to be rethinking their relationship with Washington.
Russian military tests in the Sea of Japan alert the authorities
Still, just three months later -- and as evidenced by Finland and Sweden's push to join NATO -- Biden can say with some justification that the West is "stronger and more united than ever."
Now, as he flies to Asia for his first visit to this region as president, Biden faces the equally daunting task of uniting two Asian democracies: South Korea and Japan.
The two countries are Biden's strongest allies in the region: together they are home to more than 80,000 US troops.
And the United States sees both as vital in building a coalition of like-minded nations to combat two threats that are potentially even more dangerous to world peace than Russia's invasion: the rise of China and Korea's nuclear program. from North.
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Protesters and a statue of a girl symbolizing Korean "comfort women" in front of Japan's consulate general in Busan, South Korea, on December 31, 2016.
The stakes could not be more important.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently referred to China's rise as "the greatest geopolitical test of the 21st century."
And that was after the Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, North Korea has carried out 15 missile launches so far this year.
And, despite Pyongyang last week declaring a "major national emergency" due to an outbreak of covid-19, Washington believes its seventh nuclear test and further ICBM tests may be imminent, and possibly scheduled for later. coincide with Biden's trip.
Hence Washington's desire for Japan and South Korea to unite.
The problem for Biden?
Although the two seem willing to get closer to Washington, when it comes to the other side these countries just don't get along.
They have a historically bitter relationship, rooted in Japan's colonization of South Korea between 1910 and 1945, which was exacerbated by Japan's use of sex slaves in wartime brothels - victims now euphemistically referred to as "comfort women". ".
In addition, they remain locked in a 70-year dispute over sovereignty over a group of islets in the Sea of Japan, which Korea calls the East Sea.
Now, these differences are not historical curiosities, but live disputes.
In one of the most recent attempts at trilateral talks, in November 2021, a joint press conference was derailed when Japan's deputy foreign minister objected to a South Korean police chief's visit to the islets, known as Dokdo for South Korea but Takeshima for Japan.
Lawsuits against Japanese companies for the use of forced labor during wartime remain unresolved.
In recent years, differences in security and economics have increased.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers a speech in Gwangju on May 18, 2022. (Credit: Kyodo News via Getty Images)
Evans Revere, a former U.S. diplomat who has been in and out of government over the past 50 years, working in offices in Korea and Japan, has watched the bitterness of the relationship undermine alliances for decades.
"If Tokyo and Seoul don't actively talk to each other, if they don't cooperate with each other, it's very difficult for the United States to fulfill not only its obligations towards them, but its strategy to deal with China and North Korea," he said.
Signs of bloating
Fortunately for Biden, Revere says he feels more hopeful now than he has in a long time.
Both South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are newly elected leaders, and both have shown signs of taking hard-line stances toward North Korea and China. , as well as wanting to strengthen military ties with the United States.
Japan's still-influential former leader Shinzo Abe has called on Tokyo to consider hosting US nuclear weapons, while South Korea's Yoon has suggested he might consider joining the Quad, the informal security group which is led by the United States and which includes Japan, India and Australia and which will hold a summit attended by Biden towards the end of his trip.
Crucially, the two new leaders have shown signs of putting the past behind them.
Last month, Yoon offered an olive branch to Japan when he sent a delegation to Tokyo ahead of his inauguration, as part of his plan -- outlined in a campaign speech -- for South Korea to have a "fresh start." as "Global Pivot State".
His team personally delivered a letter from Yoon to Kishida, and the move was reciprocated this month when Japan sent Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to Yoon's inauguration with a letter of reply.
Drones light up the South Korean sky in support of Ukraine 0:30
Upon receiving the letter, Kishida said strategic cooperation between Japan, the US and South Korea was needed "more than ever, as the rules-based international order is under threat."
But even if the leaders of both countries understand the benefit of putting the past behind them, they will also seek to avoid alienating voters who may not be as forgiving.
Professor Kohtaro Ito, a senior fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies, said that although Yoon has shown signs of a change in his approach -- choosing Park Jin as foreign minister, who can speak both English and Japanese and is popular in the Japanese parliament--a breakthrough is unlikely during Biden's trip.
That's because both must get through upcoming local elections: South Korea has local elections in June and Japan has upper house elections in July.
And neither leader will want to alienate nationalist voters less willing to forget the past.
The barrier of nationalism
It is not the first time that the two countries have tried to overcome their differences.
In 1965, they signed a treaty that normalized relations and was supposed to solve some of the most controversial issues, including that of "comfort women."
But South Korea was then a military dictatorship and many Koreans never accepted the treaty.
For some, the apologies and subsequent settlements by Japanese prime ministers fell short of what they consider to be sufficient reparation.
This was the launch of a Russian missile in the Sea of Japan 0:55
Choi Eunmi, a Japanese studies researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said an alliance between Japan and South Korea would be vital to Biden's hopes of building a coalition.
But, she felt that her visit would do little to resolve these issues.
"It is too sensitive and controversial an issue, and there is no room for the United States to resolve the issues," he said.
Also to think about the voters.
Revere singles out "the nationalism that often shapes perceptions of this relationship and historical issues in both capitals" as a factor marring the situation and the role of South Korean courts which -- through their rulings on wartime disputes -- "could derail any reconciliation effort."
For decades, families of Korean forced labor victims have fought for compensation through the courts, taking direct aim at Japanese companies.
It's an issue that has infuriated Tokyo, which believes things were resolved by the 1965 treaty. And one that Yoon can hardly tackle without being accused of interfering with the independence of the judiciary.
Furthermore, Yoon begins his single five-year term with the lowest approval ratings of any incoming president and has to work with a parliament the opposition dominates.
In Japan, the older and generally more conservative generation is largely supportive of a tougher approach toward South Korea, and Kishida will be well aware of this, Ito said, adding that the older generation voted in far greater numbers than the youngest.
However, Biden likely has a clear message that could cut through any lingering political doubts Kishida or Yoon harbor: the importance of alliances and cooperation, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown.
"The US president has been absolutely instrumental in mobilizing the international community, bringing NATO allies and others to support Ukraine in its time of need," Revere said.
"What better statement about the importance and utility value of alliances than what is happening right now," he concluded.
South KoreaJapanJoe Biden