South Korea hopes a high-level visit to Tokyo next week will launch talks aimed at a breakthrough in historical disputes despite concerns that the death of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe could disrupt efforts to mend ties, South Korean officials said.
Relations between the two US allies have been strained over disputes dating to Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea. Washington has been pressing Tokyo and Seoul to mend fences in the face of the North Korean nuclear threat and the rising influence of China.
Officials in the administration of new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May vowing to improve ties with Japan, said they feel emboldened by an election victory of the party of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week, which could give him more scope to advance his policy agenda for another three years.
Photo: EPA-EFE
South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin is to visit Tokyo as early as next week, a trip that a senior official handling Japan policy said is aimed at “turning on the tap” for serious negotiations on issues relating to forced labor, which stalled under Yoon’s predecessor.
Park is to visit Tokyo on Monday, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday.
Another official said that Yoon would send a high-level delegation led by South Korea’s prime minister when Japan holds a public memorial service for Abe, who was shot and killed last week while on the campaign trail.
Yoon would also likely use his Aug. 15 Liberation Day speech marking Korea’s independence from Japan as a chance to send a reconciliatory message to Tokyo, the official added.
“What we’re trying to do is to open the door for real talks,” the senior official said.
The assassination of Abe, who was a defining leader in Japanese politics and a divisive figure in South Korea, has raised new doubts about the outlook for relations with a country where bitter wartime memories run deep.
Some analysts say Seoul might be put on the back burner while Kishida presses to achieve Abe’s unrealized dreams, including constitutional reform aimed at allowing Japanese troops to fight overseas.
However, some South Korean officials see Japan as more willing to talk now, with pressure by US President Joe Biden’s administration also playing a potential role.
“We see great potential in stronger trilateral relationships,” US Department of State Counselor Derek Chollet said earlier this week.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno on Friday said that cooperation with Seoul and Washington is “inevitable” for responding to North Korea’s threat and other regional issues.
“Although relations between Japan and South Korea are in a very severe state ... we don’t think it can be left as it is,” he said, adding that Tokyo would work together to resolve history issues and restore ties.
Yoon and Kishida last month met Biden on the sidelines of a NATO summit for their first trilateral talks.
Chollet said Washington stands ready to facilitate strong ties between its two allies.
At home, the Yoon administration is gathering opinions from victims of forced labor, lawyers and experts via a newly launched public-private panel, which held its second hearing on Thursday.
At stake are South Korean court orders for a seizure of assets of Japanese firms accused of not compensating their colonial-era laborers.
Tokyo has warned of serious repercussions if the orders are enforced.
A South Korean official said the Yoon administration was seeking a “realistic, feasible proposal” that can win consent from victims and the Japanese government.
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