South Korean media expresses concern over Takaichi's election as LDP president, saying it will have a ”significant impact on the ripe relationship.”

South Korean media also reported that Sanae Takaichi was elected as the new president of the Liberal Democratic Party in the presidential election held on the 4th. In South Korea, Takaichi is known as a "hard-line conservative" on historical and territorial issues.
Takaichi is expected to be nominated as the new prime minister at the extraordinary Diet session to be convened in the middle of this month, and South Korean news agency Yonhap News warned that "this will have a significant impact on the Korea-Japan relationship, which has been ripe for cooperation."
Five candidates are running in the LDP presidential election to choose the successor to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Voting took place on the 4th, and of the five, Takaichi and Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi advanced to the runoff election.
Takaichi received 185 votes, while Koizumi received 156. Takaichi was elected as the new president. This is the first time a woman has been elected as the party's president. In the evening of the same day, Takaichi held her first press conference since taking office, saying, "Everyone will play an active role, and all generations will work together."
"We will all work together as a group," he said, expressing his intention to work towards building a party-wide system. Takaichi's selection as the new president of the Liberal Democratic Party has been reported in detail in South Korea, and various media outlets have
The article also reports that Takaichi may take a hard-line stance on historical issues with South Korea. News Agency News 1 reports that "Takaichi's nationalistic tendencies are evident in her visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines Class A war criminals."
"There are also concerns that this could provoke a backlash from South Korea and China," Takaichi said. In a speech in Tokyo in February 2022, Takaichi said, "If I were to become the head of Japan, I would like to continue visiting the shrine.
I want to continue. I have a strong desire to do so." He then commented on the backlash from China and South Korea over the Prime Minister's visit to the shrine, saying, "When you do something half-hearted like stopping the visit midway, it makes the other side arrogant. If you continue calmly, then
"The people around me are gradually becoming more and more foolish, so I think they will stop complaining," she said. Korean media outlet E-Daily quoted Takaichi's remarks from Japanese media at the time, saying, "She is spouting nonsense."
During the previous LDP presidential election in 2024, Takaichi indicated her intention to continue visiting Yasukuni Shrine even if she became prime minister, but this time she avoided making a clear statement, and only stated this at a press conference after being elected president.
However, he only said that he would "make an appropriate decision at the appropriate time." Japan-South Korea relations had cooled to the point where they were said to be at their "worst since the war" under the then Abe Shinzo and Moon Jae-in administrations.
The newspaper said, "Takaichi, born in 1961, is a contemporary of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe," and introduced her as "a representative Japanese conservative politician who showed such extreme right-wing tendencies that she was called 'female Abe.'"
He pointed out that Takaichi has a "far-right leaning" and said, "There are already concerns that the clock in Japanese politics may be turning back to the 'Abe (Shinzo) administration' era, when South Korea-Japan relations reached an all-time low."
Yonhap News also pointed out that "there is a possibility of a change in the Korea-Japan relationship, which has continued to be on a cooperative footing." Meanwhile, following the election of the new president of the Liberal Democratic Party, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (equivalent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
On the 4th, the Korean government released a statement saying, "Japan is a neighboring country and partner with a similar position in the rapidly changing geopolitical environment and trade order," and added, "We will continue to work together to develop a future-oriented relationship."
"I hope that the two countries will work together," he said. The South Korean presidential office also released a statement on the same day, saying, "We will continue to cooperate to maintain this positive momentum."
President Lee Jae-myung has been known as a "hardliner on Japan," but since running for president, he has refrained from criticizing Japan. He has held repeated meetings with Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru.
Attention is focused on whether the "shuttle diplomacy" between leaders that Lee and Ishiba have engaged in will continue with the new prime minister.
When asked about his views on the issue, he replied, "I think the question implies that the new Japanese administration will be more difficult than Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru's, and we agree."
On the 4th, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the new LDP president, Takaichi, "needs to strike a balance in order to advance relations with China and South Korea, which have historical issues.
The question is whether or not we can adopt a certain political stance."