South Korean and Chinese ties with Japan have been troubled by what they see as repeated failures by leaders in Tokyo to properly atone for wartime atrocities, in particular for Seoul over “comfort women”, as the mostly Korean women forced into prostitution at Japanese military brothels are called.
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Even the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former Foreign Minister in South Korea, welcomed the Summit Meeting which took place in Seoul, and lauded the leaders for resuming the trilateral meetings. “She emphasized the need for an expedited resolution that is acceptable to the victims and convincing to our citizens”.
The face to face meeting between Park and Abe was frosty, whereas China and South Korea have been holding smooth business and political talks for the past two years.
Monday’s discussions were dominated by the Japanese military’s use of tens of thousands of young Korean women as sex slaves before and during the second world war.
Abe confirmed the agreement, telling reporters that he and Park agreed to speed up talks on the issue, according to Japan’s Kyodo News.
A joint statement said the three agreed on Sunday to try to resolve history-related issues by “facing history squarely and advancing toward the future” and boost exchanges and co-operate on economic, cultural and other sectors.
It’s a multilateral free trade pact involving China, South Korea, Japan, the 10 ASEAN member countries and India, Australia and New Zealand.
The leaders of Japan and South Korea met in Seoul this weekend and agreed to resolve differing views of history that have hampered a fix in relations.
Park reiterated her position that Seoul and Tokyo should make a turning point to overcome history and leave for a future together this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of normalized diplomatic ties between the two countries.
China has similarly bitter memories of Japanese wartime aggression and is also at odds with Tokyo over sovereignty of an island chain in the East China Sea.
The US has been largely responsible for the defense of South Korea since the Mutual Defense Treaty was signed in 1953 and now has 28,500 servicemembers stationed on the peninsula.
The United States and South Korea approved a joint plan to deal with North Korean missiles carrying nuclear and biochemical warheads after Kim Jong Un’s regime ratcheted up its threats of attack.
“Through trilateral cooperation I believe that we will contribute to the peace and prosperity and security of not only our three countries but the region and the global community”, Park said.
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Yet neither Mr. Li nor Ms. Park discussed the issues in detail, a spokesman for Mr. Abe said, and none of the three leaders mentioned tensions in the South China Sea, where China has been building islets to reinforce its disputed territorial claims. Park has been closely considering the possibility of South Korea joining, indicating in a summit with US President Barack Obama last month that Seoul was interested.
