Substantial discrepancies remain in Seoul-Tokyo row
South Korea and Japan have once again failed to remedy their substantial discrepancies in a full-scale row over history and trade, further clouding outlook for near-term restoration of bilateral relations.
In a recent meeting between foreign ministers of the two countries, they ended up reiterating their positions over the issue of compensation for surviving South Korean victims of forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial era, Seoul’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told South Korean correspondents in New York, Saturday (KST), after the meeting with her Japanese counterpart on the sidelines of this year’s United Nations General Assembly.
The remark came a day after she had a 50-minute-long dialogue on Friday with Japan’s new Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi who took office earlier this month.
“It was a well-presented and polite meeting of foreign ministers,” Kang said. “But there remained a big discrepancy (between the two countries) on the issue.”
Even before the first meeting between Kang and Motegi, there was little expectation for the two top diplomats to be able to reach any consensus on the historic dispute in consideration of their stark differences in views over the historic dispute.
But the two foreign ministers are known to have reached a consensus on the need to hold more talks to resolve the dispute in a diplomatic manner.
The historic row centers on the South’s Supreme Court ruling last year that Japanese firms should provide financial compensation for individual surviving South Korean victims mobilized to work for them during the brutal colonial era.
Following the ruling, Japan has expressed strong regret, taking a series of what are seen widely as “retaliatory” measures against the South. Bilateral relations plunged to the lowest ebb last month when Tokyo removed Seoul from a whitelist of countries receiving trade benefits.
A few weeks later, the South Korean government also took a countermeasure by announcing its intent not to extend the two countries’ bilateral military intelligence-sharing pact, the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA).
In recent days, the escalating conflict has come to a lull, with both sides refraining from taking additional retaliatory steps against each other despite diplomatic tension remaining in place.
On Sept. 20, the foreign ministries of the two countries held a director-level meeting in Tokyo to find a middle ground and to seek a possible breakthrough to end the deepening feud.
But both sides failed to generate any outcomes, ending up only reiterating their lingering differences.
“We have shared the view of continuing to have candid communications for a future-oriented relationship,” Kang said after the meeting with Motegi.
To be specific, both foreign ministers also agreed to have talks not just on the level of foreign ministers, but among working-level officials at every chance, according to Kang.
NK-US talks to resume soon
In a meeting with the Korean correspondents, Kang also expressed her anticipation for the United States and North Korea to resume their suspended talks “in the next few weeks.”
Speaking of dialogues with her Japanese and Chinese counterparts in New York, she said the neighboring countries agreed to join hands together for the resumption of the working-level talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
“We concurred with the view that the nuclear dialogue between the U.S. and the North should resume as soon as possible for practical progress in the North’s denuclearization,” she said.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed regret that Washington and Pyongyang failed to resume the working-level talks by the end of this month, even if the North has displayed willingness to do so via its propaganda media outlets and statements.