Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his government welcomed the victory of South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday as Japanese officials and experts expressed sense of relief and hope for an improvement of the badly strained ties between the neighbors.
Yoon, a conservative former top prosecutor and foreign policy neophyte, was elected South Korea’s president to replace outgoing Moon Jae-in, during whose leadership bilateral relations have sunk to their lowest levels in years over wartime history disputes.
