Japanese and South Korean leaders sing surprise K-pop drum duet

Tokyo – The leaders of Japan and South Korea have shown an unusual level of harmony, playing a drum duet to K-pop hits during a summit on Tuesday. The leaders, whose nations have had tense relations in the past, agreed to deepen cooperation between both countries to unleash the surprising cultural exchange.

The musical performance by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung came after a summit in Japan’s former capital, Nara, which is Takaichi’s hometown.

Wearing personalized sports jackets, they sat next to each other and played hits like “Dynamite” by South Korean K-pop band BTS and “Golden” by Kpop Demon Hunters. A short video of the performance was posted on Takaichi’s office’s official Instagram account on Wednesday.

The jam session was a surprise for Takaichi, a veteran Heavy metal fan and avid drummer. in his university days, for his South Korean counterpart.

“Playing drums has been my dream for a long time,” Lee said on X, thanking Takaichi for his hospitality in hosting the jam session.

“As we respect our differences and harmonize our rhythms, I hope Korea and Japan will deepen cooperation and get closer step by step,” Lee said, admitting that the concert was perhaps “a little clumsy” on his part.

“When we met at APEC last year, [Lee] “He said his dream was to play drums, so we prepared a surprise,” Takaichi later said in a social media post.

Takaichi, a conservative politician whose credentials as a motorcycle enthusiast and heavy metal fan lent an extra layer of intrigue to her appointment as Japan’s first female prime minister, praised rookie Lee, calling him a quick learner for picking up the pace in just a few minutes.

“To develop Japan-South Korea relations in a prospective and stable manner, we will continue our close communication between the two governments, including proactively carrying out our ‘shuttle diplomacy,'” Takaichi said in a message on X.

The rhythmic diplomatic opening seemed to go down well with some social media users in both countries, who have maintained relations despite persistent animosity about Japan’s actions as a former imperial power and some territorial disputes.

“Music seems to have the power to connect hearts on a deeper level than words,” a Korean user on X posted about the drum video, according to News themezone sister network BBC News. “Exchanges like this may be quiet, but they will surely help advance Korea-Japan relations.”

“Just seeing them playing drums together, not just posing, it looks like they’re having a lot of fun, and that’s the most important thing,” wrote a Japanese X user. “Both Korea and Japan are facing difficult situations, but if we can reach a middle ground, I really think things will move in a positive direction.”

South Korea and Japan are important allies of the United States, both for economic and defense purposes.

Both nations host huge U.S. military bases and troop deployments, and have pledged to work closely with Washington balance China’s growing influence in global affairs and counter regional threats of North Korea and Beijing’s determination to take control of Taiwan.