Yasuo Fukuda, the former Japanese prime minister credited with working to improve relations with South Korea, China and other Asian nations, has died at the age of 90.
The Liberal Democratic Party said Fukuda died of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital on the 22nd, according to Kyodo News and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 26th.
Fukuda took office as prime minister in September 2007 and served for one year until September 2008. The son of former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda, he became the first son of a prime minister to hold the office in Japan's constitutional history.
He entered politics in 1990, winning a seat in the House of Representatives at age 53 as a candidate in the former Gunma No. 3 district, and was reelected seven consecutive times. He joined the Cabinet for the first time in 2000, serving as chief cabinet secretary under Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
Fukuda was regarded as a leading dove, or moderate, within the LDP who consistently stressed the importance of diplomacy toward Asia. Shortly after taking office as prime minister, asked by reporters about visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, he replied, "Is there any need to do something the other side dislikes?" During his tenure as chief cabinet secretary in the Junichiro Koizumi Cabinet, he served as the channel of communication with South Korea and China as they protested the prime minister's shrine visits, and grappled with how to respond.
His connection to South Korea dates back to his father's time as prime minister. Takeo Fukuda helped persuade Japanese political and business circles to allow the late POSCO Honorary Chairman Park Tae-joon to use funds from Japan's postwar claims settlement to build a steel mill. Fukuda himself also built extensive networks in South Korean political and government circles and took the lead in improving ties.
At a 2008 summit with then-President Lee Myung-bak, Fukuda emphasized building a future-oriented relationship between the two countries. That same year, when Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Japan rather than South Korea, the two sides agreed to develop a "mutually beneficial strategic relationship." In 2009, after leaving office, he attended the state funeral of former President Roh Moo-hyun as head of the Japanese delegation of mourners and was present at the memorial service.
In September 2024, he attended a memorial ceremony for victims of the Kanto Massacre held at the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo, where he said "the killing of Koreans is a historical fact" and raised the need for a joint South Korea-Japan investigation. The remarks drew praise as confronting history without compromising with right-wing views in Japan.
Even after retiring from politics by declining to run in the 2012 House of Representatives election, Fukuda worked to find openings in the frozen relationship between Japan and China. In 2014, as tensions escalated over the Senkaku Islands, known in China as the Diaoyu Islands, he made a secret trip to China and met President Xi Jinping, laying the groundwork for a meeting between Xi and then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
After stepping down as prime minister, he repeatedly voiced his conviction that politics stirring nationalism by invoking the China threat is dangerous. At an August 2017 news conference, he said, "As long as Japan does not act in a hostile manner, China will place importance on relations with Japan." During a visit to China in June 2018, he visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, laid flowers for the victims and observed a moment of silence.
According to Kyodo News, Fukuda recently told those around him of his concern that "if Japan and China display hostility toward each other, public opinion on both sides could overheat and spiral out of control. It could even lead to war."