After South Korea’s Icebreaker, Its President Is Welcomed to Tokyo

When South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, touched down in Japan on Thursday, it was the first time in a dozen years that a leader from Seoul had made the short flight for a one-on-one visit with the Japanese prime minister.

It was a sign that the long-fraught relationship between the two Asian neighbors is thawing, a quick follow-up to last week’s ice-breaking announcement that South Korea would drop its demand that Japanese companies compensate Korean victims of forced labor during World War II.

On Thursday afternoon, Japan gave a further indication that it was reciprocating South Korea’s move when the trade ministry in Tokyo announced that it was moving to drop restrictions on technology exports to South Korea that had been imposed since 2019.

Although the ministry gave no specific date for dropping those restrictions, it was yet another signal that the two countries, which have been at odds over history and territory for years, are now willing to cooperate to face rising threats from North Korea’s advancing nuclear program and China’s growing military ambitions in the region.

Thursday morning brought another reminder of the threat from North Korea, as the country launched an intercontinental ballistic missile for the second time in a month, hours before Mr. Yoon and Mr. Kishida met. South Korean officials said the missile was fired at a steep angle and fell into waters west of Japan.

In a joint news conference after the two leaders met on Thursday, Mr. Kishida said he wanted to open a “new chapter” in relations between the two countries. He said there was an “urgent need to strengthen Japan-Korea relations in this strategic environment.”