South Korea's new President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed to deepen a relationship prized by Washington and closely watched by China and North Korea, as the pair met for their first summit.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung departed for Canada on Monday to attend the Group of Seven summit, his first overseas engagement since taking office earlier this month.

But that progress was thrown into question last December when Yoon Suk Yeol, then South Korea’s president, briefly imposed martial law. Although he was ultimately impeached, the episode raised troubling questions about the health of the country’s democracy,