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| President Moon Jae-in, right, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have a 'pull-aside' meeting ahead of the ASEAN+3 summit in Bangkok, Monday. Yonhap |
By Do Je-hae
President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo have agreed to resolve all outstanding bilateral issues via open dialogue, while also reaching a consensus to advance Seoul-Tokyo relations, visibly and substantially.
A face-to-face meeting between the South Korean and Japanese leaders took place ahead of the ASEAN+3 summit in Bangkok, Monday morning, according to Cheong Wa Dae. The encounter lasted from 8:35 a.m. to 8:46 a.m. in a "pull-aside" meeting after Moon spoke with his counterparts from Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar ahead of the multilateral summit. The much-anticipated meeting is the first direct communication between the two since an Oct. 2018 Supreme Court ruling ordering Japanese companies to compensate South Koreans forced to work for them during Japan's colonial rule of Korea.
"At their meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed the principle of resolving all bilateral issues via open dialogue," Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said in a statement. "In addition, they expressed their hopes for measures to improve relations through ongoing negotiations via official diplomatic channels."
The meeting came 11 days after Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon delivered a personal message from Moon to Abe on the sidelines of his attendance of the coronation of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. More importantly, South Korea has to notify Japan of its final decision on ending an intelligence-sharing pact, the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), before Nov. 23.
Prior to the President's departure for Bangkok, Sunday, Moon's office had said that there was no plan for a bilateral meeting with Abe. The two leaders simultaneously took part in several forums during their stay in Thailand, including the ASEAN+3 and East Asia summits.
During the brief encounter, Moon suggested holding high-level talks, if necessary, to which Abe said that he was open to "all possible measures" to address all pending bilateral issues, Cheong Wa Dae said.
But the presidential office refrained from putting too much emphasis on the two leaders' conversation, although it was the first time for them to hold talks since the United General Assembly in New York in 2018. The two have not held talks this year due to the worsening bilateral row over various historical matters regarding Japan's treatment of Koreans during its occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
Cheong Wa Dae did not disclose the details of the conversation, but reports said Abe remains unchanged in his position that Korea must stop its "breaching of international law."
After the meeting, Kyodo News reported that Abe had reiterated his basic position that Seoul must adhere to the 1965 bilateral treaty which normalized relations between the two countries as the "condition for recovering relations."
The two leaders could meet again during the Korea-China-Japan summit, which is expected to take place in December.
Seoul also remains firm in its position that Japan must respect the Supreme Court ruling, which also determined that the 1965 "state-to-state" treaty did not nullify an individual's right to seek compensation.
"Regarding the Supreme Court ruling, we have not made any proposals to Japan other than Japanese and Korean companies provide a joint fund to pay compensation," Ko said during a briefing in Bangkok.
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| President Moon Jae-in at the ASEAN+3 summit |
With the cancellation of the APEC Forum originally planned for later this month, the presidential office has been seeking ways to bring the two leaders together during other multilateral diplomatic occasions; but Japan had, so far, not responded positively.
During the ASEAN+3 summit, Moon delivered a speech urging support from the international community for his "peace process" on the Korean Peninsula. "A third U.S.-North Korea summit will be the most crucial point in the entire process for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Moon said. "Fortunately, the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea still trust each other and remain committed to continuing their talks."
