South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae decided to relax after their summit meeting in Nara, Japan, on Tuesday by picking up drumsticks and playing K-pop tunes, including a song from the Netflix animated hit “K-Pop Demon Hunters.”
Takaichi is not only Japan’s first female prime minister, but most likely the first to have played in a heavy metal band. She took up the drums in her school days, driven by her love of bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Deep Purple, and remains prone to rocking out at the slightest provocation. During her time as a member of parliament, she kept an electronic drum set in her official dormitory.
Takaichi said on social media that when she met Lee for the first time at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) summit in South Korea in November, “he told me playing the drums was a dream of his.” She decided to set up a surprise drum lesson for him after their meeting on Tuesday, and they appear to have greatly enjoyed themselves:
Kyodo News reported that the drum set included “Dynamite,” a song from K-pop megastars BTS, and “Golden,” a song from the fictional K-pop girl group Huntrix in the astoundingly popular “K-Pop Demon Hunters” – a movie whose imaginary musical acts were charting higher than real bands for a while.
The Korea Herald saw some geopolitical symbolism in the choice of music, since “K-Pop Demon Hunters” was a collaboration between South Korean, Japanese, and American creators.
“The president learned to play the drums in just five, 10 minutes,” Takaichi said admiringly of Lee’s natural aptitude.
“At first, it felt a bit awkward, but as we kept playing, the sounds came together as one,” Lee said in a modest appraisal of his own performance.
“Drum playing has long been a dream I’ve cherished, so the time was all the more grateful for the prime minister’s thoughtful consideration,” he said.
“Just as we respected each other’s differences and found our rhythm together, I hope that Korea and Japan, too, can deepen their cooperation and take steps closer to each other,” he added.
The meeting between Takaichi and Lee came amid diplomatic turbulence between Japan and China, and China’s effort to peel South Korea out of the American coalition in Asia. Lee visited China only a week before his trip to Japan.
Takaichi made a surprise personal appearance to greet Lee upon his arrival in Nara, her hometown. Her welcome included a deep formal bow, a gesture that drove Chinese Communist Party analysts batty as they tried to determine if Takaichi’s charm would keep South Korea onside with the U.S. and Japan.
“The differing statements reflect that Japan aims to minimize historical burdens and focus on strategic and economic cooperation, while South Korea seriously perceives structural threats such as historical and territorial issues and prioritizes preventing the deterioration of bilateral relations,” huffed China’s state-run Global Times, desperately seeking to convince itself that Beijing still has a shot at going steady with Seoul.
“President Lee’s choice to prioritize ‘China first, Japan later’ in his visit schedule holds symbolic meaning. It suggests that restoring strategic mutual trust with China, damaged by previous administrations, is the top priority in South Korea’s diplomatic calculations,” China Institute of International Studies told the Global Times. Other Chinese analysts were skeptical that Takaichi could smooth over South Korea’s longstanding disputes with Japan over issues like the abuse of Korean “comfort women” by Imperial Japanese troops during World War II.
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