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Japan’s new chief mentioned he needs to interrupt by a diplomatic standoff with South Korea to encourage cooperation in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and strengthening a trilateral safety alliance with the U.S.
“I said that we can’t afford to leave our relations in the current dire state,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga mentioned after a 20-minute telephone name with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday, their first talks since Mr. Suga took workplace final week.
“Our ties are extremely important, as is coordination over North Korea and our shared alliance with the U.S.,” Mr. Suga informed reporters.
During the decision, Mr. Moon expressed hope that Mr. Suga’s appointment would provide the international locations a contemporary probability to restart negotiations over bilateral disagreements, South Korean officers mentioned.
Few diplomatic challenges inherited by Mr. Suga from former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are thornier than managing ties with Seoul.
Japan and South Korea are amongst America’s closest world allies. Both host among the U.S.’s largest abroad navy bases and maintain common bilateral drills with the U.S. to discourage China and North Korea.
But the Asian neighbors wrestle to work collectively—a frustration for Washington—due to disputes over legacies of Japan’s colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Japan-South Korea navy cooperation is uncommon.
One of essentially the most heated disagreements entails funds for Koreans who had been despatched to work in Japan in the course of the last phases of World War II. South Korean courts final 12 months confirmed three rulings ordering Japanese firms to pay compensation to former Korean staff or their descendants.
Tokyo contends {that a} 1965 settlement that normalized ties between the 2 international locations lined the compensation funds. Mr. Moon’s authorities says it could’t intervene with the courts’ independence, and belongings of the Japanese firms in South Korea are anticipated to be liquidated to cowl the compensation funds in coming months.
Mr. Suga mentioned he raised the problem of the court docket rulings on the telephone name with Mr. Moon.
“On the basis of our consistent stance on a range of issues, I hope to push for South Korea to respond appropriately from now on,” he informed reporters.
A spokesman for Mr. Moon mentioned the 2 leaders didn’t go into particulars about disputes. “Yes, there were exchanges of opinions about standing issues, but they were brief,” he mentioned.
The election of Mr. Suga as prime minister raised some hope amongst observers of the nations of a reset in relations. Ties deteriorated sharply in the course of the administration of Mr. Abe, who was much less fashionable in South Korea than North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, in keeping with some opinion polls.
Mr. Abe was angered in 2017 when Mr. Moon deserted a deal agreed between Japan and former President Park Geun-hye for Tokyo to offer funds to Korean ladies who had been pressured to function intercourse staff for the Japanese navy throughout World War II. Mr. Moon mentioned the settlement was flawed.
Last 12 months, Japan positioned new export controls on some tech-related gadgets despatched to South Korea and eliminated Seoul as a popular buying and selling associate, prompting widespread protests and boycotts of Japanese merchandise in South Korea.
The deep variations between the nations over their disputes, which contact on commerce, historical past, human rights and nationwide safety, will make it exhausting to search out options even below a brand new chief in Tokyo, political analysts say. Mr. Suga, who has little diplomatic expertise, has indicated he’ll steer an analogous course to Mr. Abe in overseas coverage.
“There’s a 99% chance things won’t improve between Japan and South Korea,” mentioned Jin Chang-soo, the Japan Center director of the Sejong Institute, a assume tank in Seoul. “Hopefully, it doesn’t get worse,” he mentioned.
Write to Alastair Gale at [email protected] and Andrew Jeong at [email protected]
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