Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that South Korea was its “most important neighbor” and that the two shared basic values, taking a conciliatory tone toward the country that has been locked in a bitter row with Tokyo for over a year. It also follows some fence-mending steps in recent months, including Seoul’s reversal of its decision to scrap an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, and Tokyo’s partial easing of curbs on the export of high-tech materials to South Korea. “Under an increasingly severe security environment in Northeast Asia, diplomacy with neighboring countries is extremely important,” Abe told parliament in his policy speech.
