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If international diplomacy is as much about tone as substance, the leaders of South Korea and Japan seem to have nailed it.
In a scene few anticipated, South Korean president Lee Jae Myung and Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi spent the last moments of a crucial summit seated behind matching drum kits in matching blue uniforms as they bashed out hit song Golden from Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters and BTS’s Dynamite.
Takaichi, who played drums in a university heavy metal band, complemented Lee’s newfound chops. “The president learned to play the drums in just five, 10 minutes,” she said in a video posted on her office’s YouTube channel.
Lee demonstrated abundant self-awareness of the gap in skill levels, posting on Tuesday: “Although our tempos were a bit different, we both tried to match the rhythm together - we will create a future-oriented relationship with one heart.”
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Tuesday’s jam session came against a significant backdrop. The two-day bilateral summit, held in Nara, the home prefecture of Takaichi, came just a week after Lee’s visit to Beijing where Xi Jinping urged him to stand on “the right side of history”, language widely interpreted in the context of Beijing’s tensions with Japan and the US.
Now Lee was in Nara, positioning himself as a friend to both sides, navigating between feuding neighbours.
The impromptu drum performance was Takaichi’s surprise. She had remembered Lee’s throwaway comment during their first meeting in Gyeongju that drumming was his lifelong dream.
After the performance, they signed and exchanged drumsticks.
The personal touch had begun earlier. When Lee arrived at his accommodation before the summit, Takaichi made an unscheduled appearance to greet him, bowing 90 degrees – a gesture of deep respect that made Korean headlines.
She told Lee’s wife, Kim Hea Kyung: “I’ve seen you on TV, [in person] you’re absolutely beautiful.”
Takaichi, known as a hardline conservative and security hawk, has wielded her genuine affection for K-culture, including roasted seaweed, cosmetics, and K-dramas, as a diplomatic bridge.
Beyond the theatre, they delivered substance: DNA testing for victims of the 1942 Chosei coalmine disaster, cooperation on scam crime, the launch of economic security talks, and North Korea. On Wednesday morning, they visited the ancient Horyu-ji temple together.
Thornier issues, including “comfort women” and territorial disputes, remained conspicuously absent. But for now, the two leaders found their rhythm.
