The Lee Jae-myung administration will standardize the order of reference for the three Northeast Asian countries as "Korea, China, Japan."
According to the government on the 16th, the presidential office decided to standardize the notation of the three Northeast Asian countries to avoid unnecessary controversy.
The move comes in response to continued debates such as "Which country are we closer to?" after the previous administration used both "Korea, China, Japan" and "Korea, Japan, China" interchangeably.
The Yoon Suk-yeol administration used the order "Korea, Japan, China" for the three Northeast Asian countries after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Aug. 2023. At the time, an official from the presidential office explained that, as closer cooperation was being achieved with the United States and Japan, they used the order "U.S.-North Korea" rather than "North Korea-U.S." and "Korea, Japan, China" rather than "Korea, China, Japan."
There is also analysis that the Lee Jae-myung administration's change from "Korea, Japan, China" to "Korea, China, Japan" is aimed at restoring relations with China.
In fact, on the 1st, President Lee held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and said, "We have fully restored Korea-China relations and are once again moving forward together on a path of practicality and mutual benefit as strategic cooperative partners."
When announcing a joint fact sheet on the U.S.-Korea tariff and security negotiations that included the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines, which could prompt a sensitive response from China, Lee said, "Through steady dialogue with China, we will unwaveringly continue on the path to advancing bilateral relations."