Shuttle Diplomacy

Financial Turmoil Helps Korea, Japan Mend Ties

The raging global financial firestorm has had a positive effect on the strained ties between South Korea and Japan. It seems that the two Asian rivals are seeking to put their animosity over territorial claims and distorted history behind them to work together to tide over the financial calamity. On Friday, the leaders of the two nations agreed to resume shuttle diplomacy, which was suspended in July following Japan's claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo.

The agreement came during a brief summit between President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing. They agreed to pursue a ``mature partnership" between the two countries. According to Cheong Wa Dae, Aso expressed his hope that Tokyo and Seoul will restart the shuttle diplomacy. In response, Lee asked Aso to visit South Korea. And then Aso agreed to visit Seoul in the immediate future, possibly early next year. Therefore, the two leaders have succeeded in putting the shuttle diplomacy back on track.

First of all, the two leaders apparently shared the view that the two countries should no longer sit on their hands at a time when the Wall Street financial meltdown is spreading into Europe, Asia and other regions of the globe. Thus, it is meaningful that the two have agreed to hold the first tripartite summit talks involving China in the Japanese city of Fukuoka by mid-December to discuss close policy coordination not only on the financial crisis but also on climate change and energy issues.

The summit between South Korea, Japan and China was to be held in September. But it was postponed because of Japan's leadership change. Seoul also remained noncommittal to the three-way meeting due to Tokyo's claims to the Dokdo islets. But now, South Korea and Japan are taking a realistic approach to deal with a much more pressing issue ― the financial storm swirling around the world. Lee, Aso and 11 other Asian leaders agreed to launch an $80-billion bailout fund by July next year to jointly cope with the financial crisis.

It goes without saying that South Korea should join coordinated international efforts to contain what former U.S. Federal Reverse Chairman Alan Greenspan described as a once-in-a-century credit tsunami. Especially, South Korea's closer cooperation with Japan and China is indispensable to fending off the contagion effects. China boasts of the world's largest foreign currency reserves estimated at $1.8 trillion. Japan and South Korea have $996 billion and $240 billion, respectively, in foreign reserves. The three countries' combined reserves account for 43 percent of the world's total.

During the summit with Aso, Lee did not raise such thorny issues as Japan's repeated claims to the Dokdo islets and its distortion of history concerning its colonial rule and wartime atrocities. Those issues cannot find a quick solution. Such matters are deeply imbedded in the minds of South Koreans and the Japanese. They may come to surface anytime when the bilateral ties hit a snag. Thus, the two nations should make more strenuous efforts to find how to put the animosity behind them so as to move ahead into the future.