Japan says S.Korea wants to work on improving ties
By Ju-min Park
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan and South Korea have agreed that their frayed relationship might be improved, Japanese Overseas Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi mentioned on Tuesday after assembly Yoon Seok-yeol, the brand new president of the neighbouring nation.
Yoon was sworn in at a time when Washington is searching for to spice up three-way safety co-operation with Tokyo and Seoul amid renewed missile and nuclear threats from North Korea.
Ties between the important thing U.S. safety allies in North Asia have been dogged by the bitter legacy of Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation, with latest disagreements on points starting from wartime compelled labour to export controls.
Yoon mentioned he wish to enhance ties by sustaining shut communication, Hayashi informed reporters.
“South Korea is a crucial nation and cooperation … is indispensable for the steadiness of this area, together with response to North Korea,” Hayashi mentioned after attending Yoon’s inaugural ceremony in Seoul.
“We agreed that we must always not go away the Japan-South Korea relations getting worse,” he added, making particular point out of co-operation between Japan and South Korea in addition to Japan, the US and South Korea.
Yoon informed Hayashi he hoped to fulfill Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida quickly, and work with him to enhance ties, based on a pool report from the South Korean presidential workplace.
On Monday, Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Tokyo, mentioned he considered Hayashi’s journey to Seoul as “important” because it might place their relations on a “higher footing”.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Extra reporting by Hyonhee Shin in Seoul; Modifying by Clarence Fernandez)
