{"id":408247,"date":"2026-01-14T08:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408247\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T08:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:24:11","slug":"drum-diplomacy-japans-takaichi-and-south-koreas-lee-end-first-day-of-summit-with-k-pop-jam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408247\/","title":{"rendered":"Drum diplomacy: Japan\u2019s Takaichi and South Korea\u2019s Lee end first day of summit with K-pop jam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TOKYO, Jan 14 \u2014 Japanese Prime Minster Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung rounded off their summit meeting yesterday with an unexpected jam session where the two played drums along to some K-pop hits.<\/p>\n

In a short video posted on the Japanese Prime Minister\u2019s office Youtube channel this morning, the two leaders played the drums to global hits from the likes of BTS and Kpop Demon Hunters.<\/p>\n

Takaichi, a keen drummer and fan of heavy metal, complemented Lee\u2019s new found chops.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president learned to play the drums in just 5, 10 minutes,\u201d she said in the video.<\/p>\n

\"Japan\u2019s <\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (R) shakes hands with South Korea\u2019s President Lee Jae Myung at the start of their meeting in Nara, Nara Prefecture on January 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough our tempos were a bit different, we both tried to match the rhythm together \u2014 we will create a future-oriented relationship with one heart,\u201d Lee posted on X this morning.<\/p>\n

While ties between Tokyo and Seoul have often been strained in the past, Takaichi and Lee have forged a friendlier relationship and this morning the two also visited Horyuji Temple in Nara, Takaichi\u2019s hometown.<\/p>\n

In statements yesterday, Takaichi and Lee said they aimed to deepen security and economic ties in the face of growing tensions in East Asia and to continue \u201cshuttle diplomacy\u201d, with Takaichi next due to visit South Korea. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO, Jan 14 \u2014 Japanese Prime Minster Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung rounded off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,171989,171991,75,171990,171988,21777,341,71246],"class_list":{"0":"post-408247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-drumming-diplomacy","11":"tag-east-asia-tensions","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-horyuji-temple-visit","14":"tag-japan-south-korea-summit","15":"tag-lee-jae-myung","16":"tag-music","17":"tag-sanae-takaichi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}