US adviser Bolton travels to Japan, South Korea amid trade dispute
US national security adviser John Bolton departed for a trip on Saturday to Japan and South Korea, two key allies of Washington that are embroiled in a trade dispute. A White House National Security Council spokesman said on Twitter that Bolton plans to “continue conversations with critical allies and friends.”
On Friday, US President Donald Trump offered help to ease tensions in the political and economic dispute between the US’s two biggest allies in Asia, which threatens the global supply of memory chips and smartphones.
Trump told reporters at the White House that South Korean President Moon Jae-in had asked him whether he could get involved. A spokeswoman for Moon confirmed that Moon asked Trump at their summit in Seoul on June 30.
Lingering tensions, particularly over compensation for South Koreans forced to work for Japanese occupiers during World War II, worsened this month when Japan restricted exports of hi-tech materials to South Korea.
Japan has denied that the dispute over compensation is behind the export curbs despite one of its ministers having been cited saying that the broken trust with Seoul was over the labor dispute. The export curbs could hurt global technology companies.
Bolton will visit South Korea from July 23 - 24, South Korea’s presidential office spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said. He will meet South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Euiyong on Wednesday to discuss a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, and a strengthened alliance between Seoul and Washington.
During his trip, Bolton is also likely to seek support for a US initiative to heighten surveillance of vital Middle Eastern shipping lanes, which has been greeted warily by allies reluctant to raise tensions with Iran. Washington blames Tehran for recent attacks on tankers.
Japanese media have said that the issue could be on the agenda when Bolton visits Japan, where any military commitment abroad would risk inflaming a divide in public opinion in a country whose armed forces have not fought overseas since World War II. A South Korean official said last week that Washington has yet to make any official request from Seoul on the issue.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General Joseph Dunford, said earlier this month that the US hopes to enlist allies in a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen.
But with allies reluctant to commit new weaponry or fighting forces, a senior Pentagon official told Reuters on Thursday that the aim was not to set up a military coalition, but to shine a “flashlight” on the region to deter attacks on commercial shipping.
Japan is the world’s fourth-biggest oil buyer and 86% of its oil supplies last year passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Japan’s position is complicated by its friendly ties with Iran. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an unsuccessful bid to ease tensions in the region when he met Iranian leaders in Tehran last month. (Reuters)