JAPAN-SOUTH KOREA: Summit Won’t Bridge Gap over North Korea

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Jun 4 2003 (IPS) - Japan and South Korea are worried about the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear programme, but the gap in their approaches to Pyongyang is unlikely to be bridged much in this week’s visit to Tokyo by South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun.

"President Roh’s visit is basically going to end up as another courtesy call," says Katsuhiro Sato, head of the Modern Korea Institute, a think tank on issues relating to the Korean Peninsula. ‘The summit is expected to pull no major breakthrough."

Roh will arrive in Japan on Friday afternoon for a three-day visit. He is scheduled to hold high-level meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, business leaders and to be hosted by the Japanese Emperor on Friday night.

He will address the Japanese Diet or parliament on Monday before leaving for Seoul.

While Japan has been pushing for more of a carrot-and-stick approach toward North Korea – and calls for a tougher stance have been increasing here – South Korea is pushing for more of a dialogue with Pyongyang under his ”peace and prosperity” policy.

The pressure has increased too in recent days, after leaders of the Group of 8 (G8) industrialised countries called North Korea’s nuclear programme, which Pyongyang admitted to in October, a threat to world stability.

It also spoke of ”taking action if necessary” to address this problem, a call that has rekindled fears that have been rising in recent months, after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, that North Korea might be a next potential target because of weapons of mass destruction.

Against this backdrop, Roh’s visit is meant to try to show that dialogue is ongoing between Japan and South Korea, both North Korea’s neighbours, despite their differences. South Korean writer H K Kang, a naturalised Japanese, said: ”Roh is making the visit to show the importance of South-Korean-Japanese ties in a time when there is mounting concern of a confrontation with Pyongyang in the region."

In an exclusive interview with the ‘Yomuiri Shinbun’ Monday, Japan’s largest daily, Roh said that South Korea, the United States and Japan will cooperate closely to resolve the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

”When I visit Japan I want to present a great framework of cooperation between South Korea and Japan for peace and prosperity in North-east Asia based on the spirit of the South Korea-Japan partnership joint declaration five years ago,” he added. But there are increasing signs, especially after Koizumi and U.S. President George W Bush said they both shared a desire for a ”peaceful and political resolution” to the North Korean issue, that some politicians here think that the time for dialogue with Pyongyang is running out.

Among others, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has begun deliberations on a new law to impose economic sanctions on North Korea – following reports that North Koreans in Japan are allegedly supporting Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

Many Japanese remember all too well North Korea’s admission last year that it had kidnapped Japanese nationals through the decades, an issue that has long been a sore point between the two nations – and helps shape Tokyo’s attitude toward Pyongyang today.

Still, South Korea is pulling out all the stops to get Roh’s visit to focus on things other than North Korea.

High on Roh’s agenda will be discussion of a free trade agreement between Japan and South Korea, which Koizumi had proposed following a similar pact with Singapore last year.

Bilateral trade remains strong. Japan imported 16.4 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods from South Korea in 2002 and South Korea is its third largest export market. South Korea imported 30 billion dollars of goods from Japan during the same period.

In addition, Roh has pledged to take steps to open his country to Japanese culture, moving further away from the post-war policy of controlling such imports – a legacy of South Korea’s resentment of Japan’s colonisation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

Disagreement between the two countries over whether Tokyo has officially apologised and compensated for the harsh rule of the Japanese Imperial Army continues to sour relations.

Other developments point to a cold welcome for Roh. On Saturday, fresh anti-Korean comments by yet another senior Japanese politician helped spoil the atmosphere at a time when analysts say Japan and South Korea should be trying to build an alliance against North Korea.

Taro Aso, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Policy Research Council, said that Koreans voluntarily adopted Japanese names during Japan’s colonial rule and were not forced to do so. His remarks drew fire from the South Korean government as well as from opposition parties in Japan.

Later, Aso apologised to the South Korean people for his ”regrettable” remarks, conceding that his statements could "damage the importance of Japan-South Korea relations” prior to Roh’s visit.

But he did not withdraw his remarks, saying only that "here are various ways on both sides to understand history”.

”Nothing can be more harmful to bilateral ties. The remarks are a step back in dealing with the more important issues facing both countries,” Yasuo Kurata, a commentator on international relations, said.

Another reason for the lack of enthusiasm for this week’s summit is Roh’s weak political base in South Korea, just months after assuming office in February.

Roh, whose party is a minority in the Millenium Democratic Party, won the presidential election after calling for the removal of U.S. bases in South Korea. But because of the North Korean issue, he now has to balance the need to please the United States and to keep his supporters happy.

Said Sato: ”It’s a pity, but the visit is becoming just a symbolic gesture of bilateral ties. The situation illustrates a deep divide in East Asia and is a dilemma for the region."