Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed concern about political upheaval in South Korea undermining progress in bilateral relations.

※Political stability in South Korea is crucial for advancing Japan-South Korea relations,§ Kishida said in an interview on Thursday after a stunning move by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to impose and later revoke martial law.

Kishida, who left office in September, formed a warm relationship with Yoon over frequent meetings, sometimes in casual settings over drinks. Ties between the nations became as close as they have been in recent decades, leading to a range of cooperation, including the creation of a system to directly share real-time information about North Korean missile launches.

Three-way coordination with the United States also progressed and President Joe Biden hosted a summit meeting for the countries at Camp David in August last year. Under new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, another three-way summit was held in November this year on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Peru.

Kishida made some symbolic moves to help reconciliation, including a joint visit last year with Yoon to a memorial in Hiroshima to the Korean victims of the 1945 nuclear attack on the city.

Before the political crisis sparked by Yoon＊s shock move this week, he had already faced criticism domestically for sidelining Koreans who continue to seek apologies and reparations from Japan for its colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Japan says all claims were settled in a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between the countries.

South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, a favorite to replace Yoon if the president is forced out, on Thursday described Japan as having a ※predatory relationship§ with South Korea.

Kishida declined to discuss internal South Korean politics but said cooperation was needed to deal with global challenges such as conflicts, disease and climate change.

※As the country closest to us I think we need to make efforts to support the relationship,§ he said.