South Korea, Japan Vow To Co-operate On North
South Korea and Japan has vowed to work closely together on North Korea ahead of the looming inter-Korea summit, but their foreign ministers remained divided over long-standing issues of Japan’s wartime crimes and disputed islands.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono made a rare visit to Seoul armed with a list of issues Tokyo wants to push onto the agenda of the April 27 summit between North and South Korea.
At a time of frenetic diplomatic activity in North-east Asia - the North’s leader Kim Jong Un is due to meet the heads of both South Korea and the US - Japan has largely remained on the sidelines.
Tokyo has found itself forced to rely on the US and South Korea to tackle its concerns regarding the North, which last year test-fired several missiles that flew over Japan, sparking security fears. Mr Kono and his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung Wha vowed “close communication and cooperation” to disarm the North and build peace on the flashpoint peninsula, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said after their meeting in Seoul.
The Japanese envoy also met President Moon Jae In, who said that working together on North Korea was “more important than ever” ahead of the summits, the South’s Yonhap agency reported.
It was the first visit to South Korea by a Japanese foreign minister in more than two years.
But the top diplomats remained divided on two thorny historical issues still unresolved.
The hugely emotional matter of Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II has soured ties between the South and Japan for years.
Seoul has urged Tokyo to take legal and moral responsibility, while Japan says that the issue was resolved when the two nations reached a deal in 2015 to offer compensation to the victims. South Korea and Japan have also locked horns over Seoul-controlled islets in the sea between the two countries called Dokdo in the South and Takeshima in Japan.