South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their intent to restart shuttle diplomacy, referring to reciprocal visits by their leaders, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Wednesday following his visit to Tokyo.
Cho made a two-day trip to Tokyo — his first overseas visit since taking office -- before departing for Washington on Wednesday afternoon to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
During his stay, Cho also paid a courtesy call on Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a day after holding foreign ministerial talks with his counterpart, Foreign Minister Hayashi Iwaya.
Cho said "Prime Minister Ishiba himself mentioned it first before I brought up the idea of resuming shuttle diplomacy" between him and President Lee Jae-myung during a press briefing in Tokyo.
Regarding the issue, a high-level Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the APEC summit hosted by the South Korean government on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 could serve as an opportunity to resume shuttle diplomacy.
"Shuttle diplomacy isn’t about fixing a date three months in advance, so there is nothing set yet, but a summit could be held at any time depending on the circumstances," the official said.
Cho also said Seoul and Tokyo agreed to continue a one-month pilot program, which was conducted in June, to expedite entry procedures for each other’s nationals through fast-track lanes at airports.
The fast-track entry lanes operated at two airports in each country: Gimpo International Airport in Seoul and Gimhae International Airport in Busan, as well as Fukuoka Airport and Terminal 3 of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in Japan.
"Since the results were very positive, we have reached a principled agreement to continue it," the unnamed high-ranking official further explained. "Since people felt the benefits, there was an agreement to extend it. We still need to finalize consultations with relevant ministries, but it doesn’t seem there will be any major issues (to extend the program)."
The official said Seoul and Tokyo also discussed Japan's planned official memorial ceremony to honor Korean victims of forced labor at the Sado Island gold mines during Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.
The official said the two countries should not repeat the previous mistake last year.
“I asked (Japan) to notify us promptly this time,” the official said. “The Japanese side, for their part, said they would make efforts in light of the positive atmosphere and good start to relations."
South Korea boycotted Japan’s memorial service last minute in November as Japan for failing to honor its pledge to hold a memorial ceremony to sincerely honor the sacrifices of Korean forced laborers at the Sado Gold Mine in return for South Korea’s consent to inscribe the site to the UNESCO World Heritage list in July this year.
Seoul’s refusal to attend the ceremony was mainly because of the content of the memorial address, which was shared at the last minute with Seoul and fell far short of expectations in terms of addressing the nature of forced mobilization.
Japan vowed to hold a memorial event for all the workers annually at the site during the 46th Session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in July, where the inscription of the Sado Island Gold Mines was discussed.
Cho said his visit to Japan made a good start in bilateral ties.
“I’ve assessed that we have at least taken a good first step in improving ties between South Korea and Japan amid rapidly changing international dynamics,” Cho said. “We also agreed on the need for trilateral cooperation among (South) Korea, the US and Japan and decided to work on fleshing out the details moving forward.”
dagyumji@heraldcorp.com
