Seoul, Tokyo to Resume Shuttle Diplomacy
By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will make a state visit to Seoul in January, in what could turn out to be a full-pledged resumption of the shuttle diplomacy between the two neighboring nations.
A Seoul official said Sunday the two governments have agreed on Aso's visit next month and they are now working on finalizing details of the trip. Aso will likely make the two-day trip to Korea between Jan. 10-12, according to reports.
President Lee Myung-bak will meet with Aso to discuss a wide range of issues. Topics at the summit could include possible ways to boost the working relationship between the two governments and address the ongoing economic and financial challenges affecting the Asian region.
Both Korea and Japan have announced a host of new measures to tackle the market slowdown, including stimulus packages and new welfare programs to assist the needy. The two leaders are also expected to discuss North Korean denuclearization and other international issues.
President Lee had pledged to pursue pragmatic, ``future-oriented'' diplomacy with Japan this year. But the often-rocky relationship between Seoul and Tokyo took a turn for the worse in July, when Japan announced it would begin referring to Dokdo as part of Japan in new teaching manuals for middle schools.
On Dec. 13, Lee and Aso met in Fukuoka during the first trilateral summit involving leaders from Korea, Japan and China. At the meeting, Lee invited Aso to visit Seoul.
Aso's scheduled visit represents a resumption of the biannual shuttle summit between the two sides, whose ties are often frayed over historical and territorial issues. But the Dokdo controversy still remains a thorny issue.
Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported over the weekend that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo is stepping up its public relations campaign asserting Japan's sovereignty over the rocky islets. The newspaper reported that the ministry has begun distributing pamphlets asserting Japan's sovereignty over Dokdo in 10 languages, including English, Korean, Chinese, French, Russian, German and Arabic. The ministry has started distributing thousands of these booklets overseas through its diplomatic personnel, the report said.
The English version of the booklet says Korea ``has been continuously stationing security personnel'' and that ``these actions constitute an illegal occupation without any legal basis, and are not acceptable in any way.'' Korea's occupation of Dokdo, according to Japan's pamphlet, ``is an illegal occupation undertaken on absolutely no basis in international law.''