No sign of Seoul-Tokyo summit

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se

The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan met in New York on Thursday to narrow their differences on wartime sex slavery and move forward to arrange a summit.

But they failed to make progress toward a summit, with both sides sticking to their stance on key issues, with neither side willing to make concessions.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se demanded that Japan take necessary measures to resolve Japanese military’s enforced sex slavery of Korean women during World War II. He said a summit could not be held until Japan took sincere steps to heal wartime wounds.

Yun urged his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, to try to convince his government to take necessary measures.

The South Korean Foreign Minister made his remarks as Kishida said his government was willing to hold a summit.

Yun said Japan had made a series of retroactive moves, including the Shinzo Abe government’s revisionist stance on wartime sex slavery which led to a review of the Kono Statement and denial of the wartime crimes.

He called on the Japanese government to make the utmost effort to prevent possible negative fallout on bilateral relations from the right-wing movement.

Kishida said the Japan would not revise the Kono Statement in which Japan acknowledged its involvement in recruiting sex slaves to provide sexual services to Japanese military.

The Japanese Foreign Minister promised that his government would try to resolve the issue, but did not say what measures might be taken.

A government official said on condition of anonymity that the timing did not seem right for a Seoul-Tokyo summit because Japan showed no signs of heeding Seoul’s request about the wartime crimes.

The foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

During a press conference on Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Abe said he hoped to hold a summit with President Park Geun-hye soon.

South Korea and Japan have not held a summit since Park and Abe took office.