Singapore: Wearing matching blue tracksuits emblazoned with their names, Japan’s Sanae Takaichi and South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung found their tempo in a surprise drumming session this week.

At the end of summit between the two leaders in Nara, Takaichi’s home town, the pair sat down to a drum duet and jammed to BTS’ Dynamite and Golden from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack on kits made by Pearl, the Japanese drum company.

While Lee struggled to match the rhythm and timidly hit a cymbal or two, Takaichi stepped in with encouragement.

“You did it well! You were amazing,” she said, according to video footage of the jam which quickly whizzed around social media.

It was cheesy, sure. But it was also a brief antidote to the “might is right” hard power projection that has dominated global affairs in the opening weeks of 2026 – from the US capture of Venezuela’s president and seizure of the country’s oil reserves, to the violent crushing of protests by an Iranian regime hellbent on staring down threats of US intervention.

Like all finely tuned pieces of diplomatic stagecraft, the drum session was laden with none-too-subtle messaging.

“Although our tempos were a bit different, we both tried to match the rhythm together – we will create a future-oriented relationship with one heart,” Lee posted to X on Wednesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, right, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung jammed to KPop songs together after their talks in Nara,........

© The Sydney Morning Herald