TOKYO (AP) – Foreign ministers from Japan and South Korea held a rare meeting Sunday on the eve of the 50th anniversary since their countries normalized relations marred by Japan’s colonization and World War II conquest.
Yet, the ties between the most important U.S. allies in Asia are so low that one hoped-for outcome of the meeting is an agreement for the countries’ leaders to just show up at Monday’s ceremonies in their respective capitals, instead of exchanging written statements.
“It’s a grave situation, and what’s more serious is that Japan’s diplomacy toward South Korea has turned harsher against the backdrop of public sentiment,” said Junya Nishino, a political science professor at Keio University.
Yun Byung-se’s visit Sunday was the first by a South Korean foreign minister since 2011. Yun and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, shook hands but made no comment during the several minutes of media coverage at the outset of their highly sensitive talks. They were expected to discuss Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women and other outstanding issues related to wartime history. Yun is set to meet with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday before attending anniversary events in Tokyo.
According to a poll by Japanese newspaper Asahi and South Korea’s Dong-a Ilbo, published Saturday, more than half of the respondents in both countries say their image of the other side has worsened in the past five years.