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https://scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3035917/japanese-south-korean-lawmakers-agree-break-stalemate-and-mend East Asia
Japanese, South Korean lawmakers agree to break stalemate and repair bilateral ties
- A non-partisan group of Japanese politicians met with South Korean parliamentarians in Tokyo to work towards easing tensions
- Disputes over wartime compensation and trade have resulted in relations between the two countries sinking to their lowest point in years
A woman walks past an advertisement featuring Japanese and South Korean flags at a shop in Shin Okubo area in Tokyo. Relations between Japan and South Korea are at their lowest point in years. Photo: AP
Japanese and South Korean lawmakers agreed on Friday to work towards easing tensions and mending bilateral ties that have sunk to their lowest point in years due to a dispute over wartime compensation which prompted a tit-for-tat trade spat.
“Our role is to build a framework of cooperation, not conflict,” Fukushiro Nukaga, who heads a non-partisan group of Japanese lawmakers to promote friendly ties between the countries, said at a meeting with South Korean parliamentarians at the Diet building.
“Now we must make the correct choices that will enable us to break the stalemate and find a path toward resolution,” Nukaga said.
His South Korean counterpart, Kang Chang Il, said bilateral ties are “in a difficult situation, as what was a dispute over history has spread to economic and security areas”.
“In order to resolve the dispute over history, we must continue dialogue,” Kang said.
The meeting came a week after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with his South Korean counterpart Lee Nak-yon. Both issued statements expressing a desire to repair ties. Lee delivered a letter to Abe from South Korean President Moon Jae-in that, according to the Yonhap News Agency, described Japan as a valuable partner in securing a lasting peace with North Korea and urged efforts to resolve the their disputes.
Tension between the neighbours has escalated since October last year, when South Korea’s top court ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation for forced labour during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Japan maintains the issue of compensation was settled when the countries established ties under a 1965 agreement, with Tokyo providing US$500 million to Seoul for “economic cooperation”.
Relations further deteriorated, with Japan removing Seoul from a list of trusted trade partners and imposing stricter export controls on some key materials needed by South Korea’s tech industry.
South Korea retaliated by scratching Japan from its own “white list” of trade partners.
The lawmakers’ meeting had been scheduled for September, but was pushed back after South Korea announced in August it will terminate a bilateral military intelligence-sharing pact that helps them counter North Korean missile threats.
The General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, is set to expire this month.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg