Japan and South Korea leaders got jamming to K-pop beats, social media buzzes with jokes and praises
Drawing a parallel with bilateral ties, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on X that South Korea and Japan had learned to respect each other's differences and adjust to one another's rhythm, deepening cooperation over time.
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Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung struck an unexpected chord online, after videos of them playing the drums together circulated on social media.
The jam session took place on Tuesday (Jan 13), at the end of the first day of a two-day summit in Nara, the capital city of Ms Takaichi's home prefecture.
South Korea's government said that Ms Takaichi led the session, guiding Mr Lee on the drums.
Ms Takaichi, a keen drummer and heavy metal fan, used to play in a student heavy metal band.
Videos show the two leaders in matching electric blue tracksuit tops, with their names emblazoned across the chest, smiling as they played along to popular tunes.
They performed two K-pop tracks: Dynamite by South Korean super group BTS, and Golden from the award-winning animated movie KPop Demon Hunters.
Some viewers who saw the video poked fun at their drumming skills, with one Instagram user saying "it's awful" and a TikTok user remarking that "my ears hurt". Quite a number wondered if it was generated by artificial intelligence.
On the other hand, others thought it was "so cute" and praised the "fun" session, with several saying that they welcomed seeing the leaders show a lighter, more relatable side.
One added that such moments of "diplomacy" were better than "unnecessary domestic infighting".
There were also online users who joked that Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong should join in by playing the guitar.
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On Tuesday, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Ms Takaichi said that Mr Lee had talked about his dream of playing the drums when they met at last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, prompting her to prepare the set-up as a surprise.
Mr Lee, in his own post on X on Wednesday, thanked Ms Takaichi for the thoughtful gesture, saying it had been a long-held ambition of his to play the drums.
He said that the performance felt "awkward" at first, but the rhythm gradually came together and allowed him to express his feelings through music.
Drawing a parallel with bilateral ties, Mr Lee added that South Korea and Japan had learned to respect each other's differences and adjust to one another's rhythm, deepening cooperation over time.
"I hope we can get closer step by step," he wrote.
TWO-DAY SUMMIT
South Korea's presidential office said earlier on Jan 9 that the two leaders would attend diplomatic events together over the two days, with Mr Lee also scheduled to meet South Korean residents in Japan.
The summit aims to reinforce efforts to develop South Korea-Japan relations in a future-oriented and stable direction, the office added.
The talks came a week after Mr Lee met President Xi Jinping from China, against the backdrop of strained ties between Tokyo and Beijing, following remarks by Ms Takaichi that Japan could deploy its forces if a Chinese attack on Taiwan posed an existential threat.
Mr Lee and Ms Takaichi said on Tuesday that South Korea and Japan aim to deepen security and economic cooperation to counter rising tensions in East Asia.
The two also discussed industrial supply chains, artificial intelligence, the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, and cooperation with the United States, their mutual ally.
In the same post on X in which she shared the drumming performance, Ms Takaichi said that Japan-South Korea relations, as well as cooperation with the United States, are becoming increasingly important in the midst of a more challenging strategic environment.
Both leaders agreed to work together to promote regional stability.
Ms Takaichi is expected to travel to South Korea next for their third meeting, though no date has been announced.
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