Leaders of Japan and South Korea will meet Thursday to try and mend ties

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) shakes hands with South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol during the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 13, 2022. The two leaders will meet in Tokyo on Thursday in the first bilateral summit between Japan and South Korea in more than a decade, in hopes of overcoming tensions that date back more than 100 years. (Vincent Thian/AP)

SEOUL — The leaders of South Korea and Japan are set to meet in Tokyo on Thursday, in the first official bilateral meeting between the two countries' leaders in 12 years. A potential thaw in ties between these two key U.S. allies could yield big dividends for the Biden administration and its Asia policy.

Both South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are gambling that they can overcome historical feuds and domestic politics that have sent relations between the two neighbors — two of the region's largest economies and established democracies — to their lowest point in decades.