Abe counts on Winter Games to polish image

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Jan 24 that he would attend the opening ceremony of 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Pyeongchang in the Republic of Korea on Feb 9. It was a hard decision for Abe to make, because many in Japan were strongly against the prime minister attending the Winter Games in the ROK.

Disagreements between Tokyo and Seoul on the issue of "comfort women" (women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army in occupied territories before and during World War II) was the primary reason why many Japanese were opposed to Abe's visit. Japan expected the agreement with former ROK president Park Geun-hye in 2015 to be the "final and irreversible" solution to the "comfort women" issue, and hoped the ROK would remove the statues of "comfort women" from in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. But ROK President Moon Jae-in, who assumed office in May 2017, claimed that since the agreement did not reflect the victims' needs, Japan needs to do more to settle the issue. Tokyo-Seoul relations turned icy because of the firm stances of both countries.

But by deciding to attend the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Abe has rekindled hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough, which could start a trend of improving political ties in Northeast Asia. If Abe indeed attends the Winter Games, Japan may get more tourists from the ROK and the ROK government's support for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.