Japan and South Korea leaders got jamming to K-pop beats, social media buzzes with jokes and praises

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung struck an unexpected chord online, after videos of them playing the drums together circulated on social media.

The jam session took place on Tuesday (Jan 13), at the end of the first day of a two-day summit in Nara, the capital city of Ms Takaichi’s home prefecture.

South Korea’s government said that Ms Takaichi led the session, guiding Mr Lee on the drums.

Ms Takaichi, a keen drummer and heavy metal fan, used to play in a student heavy metal band.

Videos show the two leaders in matching electric blue tracksuit tops, with their names emblazoned across the chest, smiling as they played along to popular tunes.

They performed two K-pop tracks: Dynamite by South Korean super group BTS, and Golden from the award-winning animated movie KPop Demon Hunters.

Some viewers who saw the video poked fun at their drumming skills, with one Instagram user saying “it’s awful” and a TikTok user remarking that “my ears hurt”. Quite a number wondered if it was generated by artificial intelligence.

On the other hand, others thought it was “so cute” and praised the “fun” session, with several saying that they welcomed seeing the leaders show a lighter, more relatable side. 

One added that such moments of “diplomacy” were better than “unnecessary domestic infighting”.

There were also online users who joked that Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong should join in by playing the guitar.