Kim, Koizumi Declare Support for Better Ties

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Kim, Koizumi Declare Support for Better Ties

SHANGHAI - President Kim Dae-jung and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi used their meeting in Shanghai on Saturday to reaffirm their intention to restore amicable relations between the two countries, but appear to have taken few if any concrete steps. The two met privately during the annual summit meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

At the conclusion of the APEC summit meeting Sunday, the heads of state broke from APEC's traditional reluctance to move beyond economic issues to adopt a joint statement condemning terrorism. "Because of the economic downturn caused by the terrorist acts, protectionism could raise its head," President Kim Dae-jung said Sunday. "We should guard against such moves and continue to make efforts for trade and investment liberalization."

Some analysts in Seoul said the side meeting of the Korean and Japanese leaders was "future-oriented" and focused on practical measures to improve ties. They said the way was paved for those discussions by the meeting of the two men one week ago in Seoul, which they characterized as reopening channels of communication between the two governments.

The two leaders agreed during their side meeting to sign a bilateral investment treaty before the end of the year, work further on expanding air service between Korea and Japan, and pursue a visa exemption for Koreans visiting Japan during the 2002 World Cup football tournament. Diplomatic sources said these issues will be handled at the working level, adding that it was too early to tell if agreements favorable to Korea could be reached.

Earlier, Korea had vowed to halt most exchanges with Japan until the issue of Japanese history textbooks was settled, but the calendar seems to have forced a change in that stance. "The 'agreements' at the present summit talks seem to have all been made in view of the World Cup games next June," one diplomatic source said.

Mr. Koizumi reportedly told Mr. Kim that Japan will establish a commission to look into the construction of a new memorial to Japan's war dead. A Foreign Ministry official put the development in a broader context. "Now that Mr. Koizumi, who has no experience in Asia diplomacy, has met consecutively with the Korean and Chinese heads of state, it is unlikely that he will visit the Yasukuni shrine again next year," he commented. That shrine to Japanese war dead includes memorials to several prominent war criminals from the World War II era.

by Oh Young-hwan

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