A warming of ties between South Korea and Japan would help them share information with their US ally to keep an eye on North Korea, South Korean National Diplomatic Academy chancellor Park Cheol-hee said yesterday.
“We are advancing the issues of security cooperation, especially information sharing among the three countries,” said Park, who was a top adviser to Seoul as it drew up a deal to remedy an impasse that hurt security and trade ties.
Park told Bloomberg Television that the deal was a good starting point that would help the neighbors work on economic security issues and address concerns about global supply chains.
Photo: EPA-EFE
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this week struck a chord of unity at a summit where the US allies agreed to cooperate on North Korea. They also cemented a deal to compensate people forced to work at Japanese factories and mines during its 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula.
The visit marked the first formal summit in Seoul in about a dozen years between the neighbors, helped by the deal Yoon unveiled in March that calls for South Korean firms to contribute to a compensation fund for workers conscripted during the occupation.
The payments were meant to avoid forcing Japanese companies to provide compensation, in line with Tokyo’s contention all such claims were settled under a 1965 agreement.
US President Joe Biden’s administration welcomed the move, calling it a “groundbreaking” deal, but Yoon has had trouble winning over the public at home, with surveys showing that most respondents were against the pact.
Park said the deal marked “an achievement by the two leaders and the United States facilitated it and encouraged it.”
The friction between Seoul and Tokyo caused headaches for the US as it sought help from its partners in securing global flows of key materials that were less dependent on China.
The Biden administration has also been seeking help from its partners to impose sweeping curbs on the sale of advanced chip equipment to China in a policy aimed at preventing the country’s progression in a range of cutting-edge technologies.
Kishida said his summit with Yoon helped him “deepen the relationship of trust,” as the two leaders hailed a resumption of shuttle diplomacy and cooperation on items such as semiconductors.
Park said the deal should help the partners address economic concerns posed by China.
“If we stand strongly together with the United States and Japan, we are in a much more comfortable position to deal with China,” Park said, adding that the South “Korean government is not against China. It’s our mission to re-embrace China in a favorable way.”
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