Japan's Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Fumio Kishida attends a news conference at the party headquarters in Tokyo on Nov. 1, 2021. (Rodrigo Reyes Marin/Pool Photo via AP)

       SEOUL (Kyodo) -- South Korean media expect there will be little change in soured relations with Japan following the Japanese ruling coalition's comfortable victory in Sunday's general election, while Taiwan expressed hope for stronger ties with Japan.

       South Korea's Yonhap News Agency made the assessment in a report on Monday, citing the support Prime Minister Fumio Kishida received from former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while seeking the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democracy Party before becoming premier.

       As prime minister, Abe took a hard-line stance on South Korea as bilateral ties sank to their lowest level in decades following 2018 South Korean top court rulings that ordered Japanese companies to compensate Korean plaintiffs over forced labor during World War II.

       The Yonhap report also assessed that Tokyo is in no position to take a conciliatory approach to Seoul over historical issues ahead of next year's upper house election because of "anti-South Korea" sentiment among the public.

       The opposition Japan Innovation Party caught the attention of South Korean newspapers after the party made a strong showing in the lower house election and became the third-largest party in the chamber.

       The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper noted that party founder and former Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto had previously remarked that the wartime "comfort women" system was necessary to maintain military discipline.

       The issue of women who were forced to work at Japanese military brothels during World War II is one of several issues that have long strained Japan-South Korea ties. The Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

       The newspaper sounded alarm over the possibility that the Japan Innovation Party, which is now the largest party in the House of Representatives after Kishida's LDP and the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, could influence Japan's South Korea policy and defense policy.

       China, meanwhile, declined Monday to comment on the outcome of the latest election in Japan, but voiced hope that bilateral ties improve down the road, as the two countries have been at odds over the situation surrounding the Taiwan Strait recently.

       "At present, Sino-Japanese relations have both opportunities and challenges. We hope Japan will try to maintain and develop sound and stable relations with China by taking practical actions," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.

       Also Monday, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry expressed hope that stronger ties with Japan will be forged after the LDP won a majority in the lower house on its own.

       The ministry assessed that the election result will help stabilize Japan's political landscape and maintain its social prosperity.

       The self-ruled island's Central News Agency called attention to the defeats of several prominent politicians in single-seat districts, including LDP Secretary General Akira Amari and Ichiro Ozawa of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

       The news agency report said the Japanese public called for a generational change, regardless of the political camp lawmakers belong to.

       Amari and Ozawa, both in their 70s, retained seats in the lower house through proportional representation.

       Sunday's general election was Kishida's first as prime minister and LDP president. He succeeded Yoshihide Suga as premier in early October.

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