Japan's defense chief to visit Korea to attend military games

By Jun Ji-hye

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani is expected to visit Korea early next month to attend the upcoming Military World Games to be held here for 10 days from Oct. 2, according to the Ministry of National Defense, Thursday.

A military official said on the condition of anonymity, “The Japanese minister has delivered his hope to participate in the games to us.”

Nakatani’s visit seems highly likely to be accomplished as the International Military Sports Council (CISM), the organizer of the Games, already gave a positive response to Japan’s request to attend the games as an observer for the first time since they began in 1995. Tokyo had refrained from participating in the quadrennial global sports event for soldiers because the status of its the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) was not equivalent to that of other countries.

Nakatani’s visit is also likely to lead to a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo.

The defense chiefs of the two nations agreed to resume discussions on mutual concerns and the two’s defense cooperation during the 14th Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, which took place in Singapore in May.

In the same month, Japanese working-level officials told Korean officials that Tokyo is hoping to hold ministerial defense talks within this year.

If the meeting is realized, the two ministers are expected to discuss the SDF’s possible entrance onto the Korean Peninsula as the Japanese Diet recently approved revised security bills that permit its military to fight abroad for the first time since World War II.

“No decision has been made about the schedule of the defense talks,” the official said.

Seoul has held a position that history issues involving Tokyo’s wartime wrongdoings, including its sexual enslavement of Korean women during the war, need to be addressed first.

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