South Korean President Lee Myung Bak concluded his two-day visit to Japan on Monday after holding talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. Although the two leaders claimed "the new era of bilateral relations" and reached a series of consensus, Japanese media said ties between the two countries are still fragile and time is needed for achieving substantial development.
However, Lee's visit marked a significant first step in bringing the bilateral relation back into normal and a start point of resuming the two countries' top-level "shuttle diplomacy," or yearly reciprocal visits, which was agreed upon by Japan and South Korea in late 2004, but had been suspended since June 2005 due to territorial dispute and Japanese former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine.
Fukuda's priority to Asia Diplomacy and Lee's fervor for "pragmatic diplomacy" set conditions for improving the bilateral ties. The two leaders confirmed the resumption of the "shuttle diplomacy" and common efforts for a future-oriented "new era" during Fukuda's visit to South Korea for Lee's inauguration ceremony in February.
Japanese media said putting an end to the hostility in the past more than two years was the top subject of Lee's visit.
AIMING AT MATURED PARTNERSHIP
A joint press release said the summit talks held on Monday morning at Fukuda's office was fruitful thanks to thorough preparation by the two sides.
Fukuda and Lee exchanged ideas on details concerning their "new era" and agreed to upgrade the bilateral relations to "matured" partnership.
The two sides affirmed Fukuda's visit to South Korea later this year and agreed to conduct frequent top-level dialogues at various international conferences, including the Group of Eight summit slated for July in northern Japan's Hokkaido.
At a joint press conference following their meeting, Fukuda praised Lee's visit as "a good start."
On the economic front, the two sides agreed to reopen work-level consultations in June to resume negotiations for an economic partnership agreement, which could finally develop into a free trade pact. The two leaders also shared common views on promoting mutual investment and enhancing cooperation between small and midium sized enterprises.
About the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Fukuda and Lee agreed to strengthen their bilateral cooperation, as well as trilateral cooperation with the United States, on pushing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to fully and accurately declare its nuclear activities in a prompt manner as requested in the six-party talks. The two sides expressed support for each other's policies toward the DPRK.
Japanese officials said the two leaders also exchanged ideas and reached common stands on a wide range of issues such as civil communications, global warming, energy security, the U.N. reform and official development assistance to developing nations.
BLOCKS REMAIN
As the Japan-South Korea relationship seems to spread out a rosy future, the two countries' intimacy is still some distance away since time of coldness had been so long and sensitive issues remain hard to resolve.
Adopting pragmatic diplomatic policies to bring realistic benefits to South Korea, Lee tried to lighten the impact of historical issues after taking office. He proposed not to ask for apologies from Japan and expressed his belief that Japan could properly deal with the issue of history perception by itself.
The two countries should not be harassed by what happened in the past, and history should not block their joint efforts for the future, Lee told the press conference.
Territorial dispute and the war-related Yasukuni Shrine were even untouched during the summit.
However, the Japanese side is sure still far from comfortable. When Fukuda was in Seoul in February, some Japanese foreign ministry officials expressed their concerns that public opinions have significant influence on policy-making in South Korea and Lee's policies toward Japan may be changed. They are not only worried about the hopelessness of resolving the territorial dispute, but also feared that historical issues could be raised again.
According to an article published Monday on the website of the Nippon Sankei Shimbun, a lot of officials in the Japanese government believed that Japan is only an object in Lee's pragmatic diplomacy which is clearly aimed at facilitating economic boom. If the diplomacy failed to bring fruits, Lee may bring up the historical issue again to domestic focus and shun criticism.
In a commentary published later in the day, Kyodo News said although Lee's visit was conducive to strengthening mutual trust between the two leaders, to develop the tender bilateral ties into maturity will continue to be a tough mission for both sides.
Source:Xinhua
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