Park, Abe may hold additional summits

By Kang Seung-woo

President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet at least three times this month at international gatherings, raising hopes that they will discuss further ways to resolve the issue of Korean “comfort women.”

They may hold other summits ― following their first bilateral meeting in Seoul last week ― on the sidelines of the international events, sources said Monday.

Park plans to attend the G-20 summit in Turkey, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the Philippines and the ASEAN plus three meeting in Malaysia from Nov. 14 to 23, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Abe is reportedly set to attend the events, as well.

The possible talks will provide opportunities to settle the long-running issue between the two countries.

Last week, the two leaders agreed to speed up talks in order to resolve the issue by the end of this year on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the two nations’ diplomatic relations. Recently, Abe also expressed hopes of another meeting with Park during the global forums.

“They may hold a meeting on the sidelines of the events,” said Kim Yeoul-soo, an international relations professor at Sungshin Women’s University.

“Prime Minister Abe said he wants to overcome obstacles through meetings rather than hoping to hold talks after they are cleared, so the two leaders had better meet and clear the difficulties.”

Park initially refused to meet face-to-face with Abe after her inauguration in 2013 due to the latter’s revisionist historical stance. However, the two leaders had their first formal summit in Seoul last Monday and agreed to seek an early resolution of the comfort women issue on the occasion of the anniversary ― although there have yet to be any follow-up measure.

“Since last week’s summit, there have been talks indicating that Korea and Japan have differing views on the agreement despite Seoul’s denial. In order to clear up misunderstandings, they need to meet each other again,” said Lee Myon-woo, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute.

Lee Won-deog, a professor of international politics at Kookmin University, said that this is the last opportunity for Park and Abe to hold another bilateral summit.

“If the government is determined to resolve the issue within this year, President Park should meet with Prime Minister Abe during her overseas trip,” he said.

According to Japan’s NHK last Tuesday, Abe wants to hold another summit with Park at international meetings.

“Abe said he wants to continuously meet with Park to resolve pending issues, including the sex slavery matter,” it reported.

Lee Myon-woo said that the Japanese government appears to feel the need to resolve the thorny issue.

“No settlement of the dispute is also a burden to the Abe administration because Korea is persistently assertive regarding the issue in the international community,” he said.

Kim also said, “Putting the issue on the table places Japan under pressure to quickly handle it.”