A surreal drum duet between two East Asian world leaders has set the internet abuzz – and put a spotlight on Japan and South Korea’s diplomatic relationship.
Decked out in matching blue jackets, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday played drums to the beats of K-pop hits – including Dynamite by BTS and Golden from hit film KPop Demon Hunters.
The performance, a nod to Takaichi’s past life as a drummer in a heavy metal band, wrapped up Lee’s official visit to Japan this week.
It’s also part of Lee’s diplomatic overtures to regional powers including Japan, with whom South Korea has a fraught history but shares a security alliance.
The drumming session from Tuesday, which Lee described as “a little clumsy”, has now spawned a viral video.
During Lee’s visit to Nara, Takaichi’s hometown, he gifted the Japanese prime minister a drum set. The two leaders also exchanged signed drumsticks after their performance.
“When we met at APEC last year, [Lee] said it was his dream to play the drums, so we prepared a surprise,” Takaichi later wrote on X.
Footage of the jam session has won praise on social media.
“Music seems to have the power to connect hearts at a deeper level than words ever could,” one X user wrote in Korean. “Exchanges like this may be quiet, but they will surely help move relations between Korea and Japan forward.”
There have long been sore spots between the two neighbours, including historical grievances from Japan’s colonial rule and territorial disputes.
But both countries are allies of the US, and have worked together to counter China’s increasing assertiveness in the region.
On Tuesday, Takaichi said in a statement that cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the US has become increasingly important amid heightened tensions in the region’s “strategic environment”.
Lee and Takaichi have also agreed to boost economic cooperation – a pledge that comes as China has been tightening its export of rare earths and dual-use goods to Japan.
“Just seeing them actually playing drums together – not just posing – looks like they are having so much fun, and that’s what matters most,” an X user wrote in Japanese.
“Both Korea and Japan are facing tough situations, but if we can meet each other halfway, I truly believe things will move in a positive direction.”
Lee’s smoothness as a diplomat has boosted his approval ratings back home.
Days before his viral jam session with Takaichi, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, with whom he took selfies on a Chinese smartphone.
Last October, he flattered US President Donald Trump with a large golden crown.
The only leader he hasn’t been able to charm is North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang has rejected Lee’s overtures for peace and shown little interest in reconciliation. This week, Pyongyang demanded an apology from Seoul after accusing it of flying surveillance drones in its territory.
Lee’s rise to become president of South Korea had previously sounded alarm bells in Tokyo and Washington. Relatively unknown outside his own country at the time, Lee had a reputation as a firebrand who was sympathetic to socialist economic causes.
The US feared South Korea would tilt towards China, South Korea’s largest trading partner.
Japan, meanwhile, feared a repeat of a spat in 2019, when South Korea threatened to pull out of an intelligence-sharing agreement after Japan tightened its exports to the country.
That fight broke out after a South Korean court ordered Japanese companies to compensate the survivors of Japan’s wartime forced labour, an issue Japan now considers resolved.
Since taking office, however, Lee has walked a diplomatic tightrope among the region’s major powers, from the US to China and now Japan.
Lee heaped praise on Takaichi’s drumming skills in a post on X, and likened their diplomatic efforts to the musical duet.
“Even if our timing was slightly different, our intention to find the same rhythm was shared,” he wrote. “In that same spirit, we will continue to build a future-oriented Korea–Japan relationship together, with one heart.”
