President turning eyes to Russia for next trip
By Kim Tae-gyu
President Park Geun-hye is turning her focus to Russia after she sent one of her top aides to the country this week following her trips to the United States and China.
A Cheong Wa Dae official said that Ju Chul-ki, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security, returned home on Wednesday after taking part in an annual security conference held in Vladivostok.
“The forum, which is organized by Russia, is the fourth and Ju was the highest-ever South Korea official who participated in the yearly event,” said the official who asked not to be named.
“We tried to show our respect by sending a top-level official to the forum, which Russia hopes to develop into a globally prominent one. Thus far, diplomats whose ranks were lower than Ju led the delegates.”
In her third overseas trip slated for early September, Park is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Saint Petersburg.
The dispatch of a diplomat of Ju’s caliber to a conference strongly promoted by Russia is seen as raising the possibility of the two leaders meeting at the G20 Summit.
If Park meets with Putin, she will be able to almost complete a crucial mission for recently elected presidents ― having face-to-face meetings with heads of four of the most significant nations; the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
Along with the two Koreas, the four are also members of the long-stalled six-party talks aimed at terminating North Korea’s nuclear weapon program. Park flew to the United States in early May and visited China last week.
There remains Japan, which was typically the second country for South Korean heads of state to visit soon after their inauguration, sometimes on the way home from their first overseas trips to the United States.
However, Park has no immediate plan to cross the East Sea to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a time when the ultra-rightist politician continues to come up with provocative actions and activities.
“Park does not have a plan to visit Japan in the near future. More precisely, nothing is fixed, yet. She may have a meeting with Abe during the G20 Summit. We don’t know exactly how things will evolve,” the official said.
“Japan is an important partner for us. It is our close neighbor and we know that the two leaders will have to meet after all. But lingering disputes over history generate some concern.”
Abe soured the relationship between Seoul and Tokyo by making jingoistic remarks after he took office late last year. He has even been suspected of negating Japan’s wartime atrocities, prompting outright anger from neighbors such as Korea, which suffered greatly under brutal Japanese imperial rule from 1910 through 1945.