South Korea, Japan inching closer! Vow to increase economic cooperation, condemn North Korea’s missile launches
Besides making efforts to revitalize corporate exchanges between the two nations, exchanges of businesspeople between the two nations will become more active if bilateral relations are normalized.
NEW DELHI: Recent developments in the Korean peninsula have pushed South Korea and Japan closer to each other with common concerns related to security and economic cooperation, raising hopes of improving bilateral relations, which have so far been stressed over wartime forced labor and other issues related to Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The recent developments especially North Korea’s flurry of ballistic missile launches including one that flew over Japan, moved the top leadership of South Korea and Japan to conversations to seriously discuss the issues also included strengthening economic cooperation.
The South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida not only held a 25-minute long phone conversation recently, they also had physically met last month in New York on the side lines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly.
In a statement, the South Korean presidential office said the talks between the two leaders lasted 25 minutes as President Yoon from his office in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District exchanged opinions on North Korea’s recent launches of ballistic missiles with the Japanese leader.
The call came two weeks later after their summit last month in New York during the 77th United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders condemned the launches as an act of grave provocation threatening the peace and safety of not just the Korean Peninsula but also Northeast Asia and the international community. They agreed on bilateral cooperation for a stern response.
While committing to continued diplomatic efforts through frequent communication on bilateral issues like national security, both sides acknowledged the need to deliver a clear message that Pyeongyang must pay for its reckless provocations, stressing the importance of not only trilateral security cooperation among Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo but also strong solidarity with the international community, including the U.N. Security Council.
While quoting the presidential office, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that President Yoon Suk-yeol had told Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that they need to make efforts to revitalize corporate exchanges between the two nations during their first summit in New York and recent phone talks.
During the summit in New York, Yoon reportedly told Kishida that exchanges of businesspeople between the two nations will become more active if bilateral relations are normalized, according to the presidential office. Yoon made similar remarks during the telephone talks with Kishida last week.
While quoting a senior presidential official, the Yonhap News Agency said reported that Yoon is seeking to address economic issues between the two nations. Both leaders also pledged continued diplomatic efforts through frequent communication on bilateral issues like national security.
“In Korea-Japan relationship, there has been a tendency to mention a lot of past history, security and political issues, and omit economic issues, but this time, it is different,” the official told the agency.
The past historical issues of alleged forced labour by Japanese companies during Japan’s colonial rule of Korean peninsula have been causing bitter diplomatic between two Asian nations with former as the world’s third top economic power and latter as the 10th largest economic power on the world ranking.
Following South Korea’s top court orders in 2018 that Japanese firms should pay compensation to forced South Korean labor victims, and Japan in retaliation had imposed export curbs against South Korea. Japan maintains that following the two nations signing the 1965 treaty all reparation issues were settled.
