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[Editorial] Keeping up the hard-won momentum

Published: 20 Mar. 2023, 20:23

The summit between South Korea and Japan has left uncomfortable feelings for the Korean side. Seiji Kihara, the deputy chief cabinet secretary, told a Japanese media outlet that Tokyo demanded Seoul “faithfully comply” with the inter-governmental agreement in 2015 on settling the compensation for sexual enslavement of Korean women by the Japanese military during World War II. Tokyo also reportedly addressed contentious issues such as the territorial dispute over the Dokdo islets and the 2018 incident over the Korean navy aiming the fire-control radar at a corvette of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.

The so-called comfort women issue that was settled between President Park Geun-hye and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in December 2015 hit a deadlock after the Moon Jae-in administration disbanded the fund aimed at compensating the surviving victims through donations from Tokyo. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who led the negotiation as a foreign minister at that time has often urged Seoul to commit back to the agreed terms.

Seoul says that neither the comfort women issue nor the Dokdo issue was dealt with during the summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Kishida. If so, Tokyo has given the media wrong information to trigger conflict for domestic political gain. Foreign Minister Park Jin and Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy national security advisor, have only deepened the confusion. They first denied that the issues came up and later said they could not disclose all the details of discussions in the summit meeting.

The Democratic Party(DP) has ratcheted up its attack on the government following the report. DP leader Lee Jae-myung called the deal “humiliating by victimizing the forced labor victims.” But the party is in no position to make such criticism, as it must take responsibility for leaving the soured relationship unattended for five years.

Politicians in Korea and Japan must not use diplomatic issue for political gains. Instead of internal wrangling, the two countries must turn attention to North Korean provocations. The UN Security Council on Monday discussed the latest barrage of missile launches, including an ICBM, into the sea between Korea and Japan shortly before Yoon flew to Tokyo for a summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping has visited Russia this week for the first time since he started his third term. The closer ties between Beijing and Moscow calls for fast normalization of Seoul-Tokyo relations and stronger alliance among Korea, Japan and the U.S.

A summit cannot solve a myriad of complicated issues. Our foreign and security authorities must continue with communication with the people to keep up the hard-won momentum to improve bilateral ties.