By Kim Rahn
Seoul has officially expressed regret to Tokyo over some Japanese media outlets’ “distorted” reports of the former’s humanitarian aid plan for Pyongyang discussed at the recent trilateral talks among Seoul, Tokyo and Washington in New York.
The U.S. also expressed concerns that such distorted reports could rupture the three nations’ cooperation in dealing with North Korea’s nuclear and missile issues, according to a Cheong Wa Dae source.
Their responses came after some Japanese media, including Nippon TV, reported Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denounced the Moon Jae-in government’s plan to offer $8 million in humanitarian aid to North Korea during their trilateral meeting in New York earlier in the day. The media outlets quoted a senior Japanese government official as saying that Trump was extremely angry.
“We expressed regret to the Japanese government through a diplomatic channel over the erroneous reports by Japanese media,” a foreign ministry official said Sunday.
“The regret was expressed to the Japanese government, not the media outlets, because the outlets quoted a senior official who accompanied Abe at the trilateral talks and we thought the Japanese government needs to take proper measures regarding this.”
Presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan also expressed strong regret over the media outlets in question and the Japanese government over the “malicious reports.”
“According to South Korean officials who attended the trilateral talks, the reports were not true and seem to have been distorted intentionally,” Yoon said in a briefing Friday.
“It is a diplomatic custom not to mention what is discussed at a summit besides official announcements. But the Japanese media have reported this, which is far from truth, by quoting government sources. We expressed strong regret and hope such activities will not happen again.”
Yoon said such reports are feared to have negative influences on the Seoul-Tokyo relationship.
The U.S. has shown similar concerns.
According to a source at Cheong Wa Dae, a high-profile official at the presidential office had a phone conversation with an official at the White House Saturday to discuss how to respond to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s threats and Trump’s planned visit to Seoul in November.
The official talked about the distorted reports on the talks by the Japanese media outlets, and the White House official answered that such reports could cause a rupture in the three nations’ cooperation and that was what North Korea hopes for.
The U.S. official expressed disappointment and concerns and said Washington would deliver these concerns to Tokyo.
This was not the first time for a Japanese media outlet to release a distorted report.
Earlier this month, the Fuji News Network reported that in a phone conversation between Trump and Abe, the former criticized the Moon government for continuing to seek dialogue with North Korea despite the North’s continued provocations. According to the broadcaster, Trump told Abe that the South Korean government was “begging” for dialogue.
Regarding the report, presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said that officials at the Korean Embassy in Japan contacted the Japanese foreign ministry and confirmed the report was untrue. Cheong Wa Dae expressed strong regret at that time as well.