THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
May 6, 2021 at 16:46 JST
Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers held their first face-to-face meeting in more than a year on May 5 in London, mainly to fall in line with Washington's efforts to strengthen ties with its two allies to deal with China and North Korea.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his South Korean counterpart, Chung Eui-yong, met on the sidelines of a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in the British capital.
But much of their discussion was taken up with a rehashing of past positions regarding historical issues.
These included the former “comfort women,” who were forced to provide sex to Japanese military personnel before and during World War II, and lawsuit verdicts ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation to former laborers during the war from the Korean Peninsula, according to foreign ministry officials of the two nations who briefed reporters.
Foreign Ministry officials said the meeting, the first between the respective foreign ministers since February 2020, lasted for about 20 minutes.
Motegi touched upon a January verdict by the Seoul Central District Court ordering the government to pay compensation to former comfort women and asked Seoul to take the appropriate measures to have the demand dropped.
He also said efforts to sell off assets in South Korea of the Japanese companies ordered to pay compensation to former laborers “had to be avoided at all costs.” He asked Seoul to present as soon as possible measures to resolve the issue that would be acceptable to Tokyo.
According to South Korean Foreign Ministry officials, Chung told Motegi that historical issues would never be resolved until Japan held a correct understanding of the past history between the two nations.
Chung also expressed opposition to the recent decision by the government to dump treated radiation-contaminated water stored on the grounds of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.
“Japan did not consult beforehand with neighboring nations in a sufficient manner,” Chung told Motegi.
Chung asked that Japan handle the issue carefully because “releasing the contaminated water has the possibility of serving as a latent threat to the health and safety of the South Korean public as well as the maritime environment.”
About the only agreement between the two foreign ministers was on the need to continue with efforts toward improved communications between diplomats of the two nations to return bilateral ties to a sound one.
Despite little likelihood of an improvement in bilateral ties, Motegi went ahead with the meeting, according to a government source, to “save face for Washington,” given that the Biden administration has been emphasizing further cooperation with its two Asian allies.
(This article was written by Ryutaro Abe in Tokyo and Takuya Suzuki in Seoul.)
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Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, right, meets with his South Korean counterpart, Chung Eui-yong, in London on May 5. (Provided by the Foreign Ministry)
