By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
South Korea and Japan avoided sensitive and emotional bilateral issues and agreed to seek closer ties via strengthened international cooperation in Afghanistan reconstruction and the fight against piracy off Somalia in a meeting of foreign ministers in Seoul, Wednesday.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone called for a comprehensive solution to the North Korean nuclear and missile programs in addition to its human rights abuses.
In a bid to help rebuild war-torn Afghanistan, the two countries will cooperate in vocational training, bean seed planting and the invitation of Afghan trainees to Seoul and Tokyo, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said at a joint news conference following the talks.
``The two nations are able to jointly cope up with global issues such as the financial crisis and climate change based on various experiences regarding developments and accumulated soft power,'' Yu said.
The ministerial talks came a month after the leaders of the two nations agreed on joint support for Afghanistan during a summit meeting.
Yu said President Lee Myung-bak would consider making a return visit to Japan at an appropriate time this year in accordance with a summit agreement to restore ``shuttle diplomacy.''
Nakasone said he and Yu shared the view that close cooperation is important for denuclearizing North Korea and that the North's move to escalate tension is undesirable.
He expressed gratitude for Yu's reaffirmation to support Japan's stance toward the abductee issue.
According to unofficial statistics, the number of Japanese abductees in the 1970s and 1980s is estimated at 100, though North Korea officially admitted its agents kidnapped only 13.
Asked about the possibility of a meeting between a former North Korean spy and the family of a Japanese abductee, Yu said the meeting will probably take place soon.
Kim Hyun-hee, the former agent who had been sentenced to death for blowing up a Korean Air passenger plane in 1987, reportedly said the abductee, Megumi Taguchi, was alive until at least 1987.
North Korean authorities refused to repatriate her, claiming she died in a car crash that year.
Nakasone urged North Korea to stop heightening tension on the Peninsula with its harsh rhetoric.
The communist state threatened last week to ditch political and military pacts with Seoul and nullify a maritime border in the West Sea.
In efforts to expand human and cultural exchanges, the two ministers agreed to continue a scholarship program to help 1,000 South Korean students study science and engineering in Japan over the coming 10 years.
Stressing the need for a future-oriented, mature partnership between the two neighboring countries, the Japanese foreign minister said an annual festival on South Korean and Japanese culture, which has been held in Seoul, will also take place in Tokyo this year.
Nakasone returned home later in the day after paying a courtesy call on President Lee at Cheong Wa Dae. It was his first trip to Seoul since taking office last September.