South Korea, Japan clash at US-hosted trilateral meeting
Posted : 2021-11-18 16:21
Updated : 2021-11-18 17:31
| From left, South Korea's First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong-kun, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori pose before their trilateral meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
Moon's end-of-war proposal drifting due to Dokdo dispute
By Nam Hyun-woo
South Korea and Japan clashed with each other during a U.S.-hosted trilateral vice-ministerial meeting, as the vice ministers from Seoul and Tokyo did not participate in a scheduled joint press conference due to the latter's insistence on Japan's territorial claims on South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo.
First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong-kun, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori were due to hold a joint press conference after their trilateral meeting at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Wednesday (local time), but Sherman appeared alone on the stage to field questions from reporters.
In a separate press conference at the South Korean Embassy, Choi told reporters, "Japan conveyed its stance that it could not participate in the press conference due to the National Police Agency commissioner general's visit to Dokdo."
"We agreed to the U.S. attending the press conference alone to announce the outcome of the trilateral meeting," Choi said. "This is because we recognized the importance of the meeting."
National Police Agency Commissioner General Kim Chang-yong visited Dokdo, Tuesday (KST) to encourage the Dokdo Security Police detachment stationed on the islets.
| South Korea's First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong-kun, center, speaks to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori during their trilateral meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
The spat continued in a bilateral meeting between South Korea and Japan, which took place after the three-way talks. According to the foreign ministry, the Japanese vice foreign minister mentioned the Dokdo issue during the meeting, and Choi "clearly stated that South Korea cannot accept any kind of Japanese claim related to Dokdo."
Tokyo's continued territorial claim to Dokdo is one of the fiercest areas of disputes between the neighboring countries. Dokdo is a group of rocky islets, of which South Korea has been in effective control since its liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.
Sherman's solo appearance at the press conference shows that relations between the two Asian countries remain at their lowest ebb. Besides the Dokdo issue, Seoul-Tokyo relations have been impacted further since 2019 when Japan began restricting exports of key industrial materials to companies here in apparent retaliation to the South Korean Supreme Court's ruling that ordered Japanese companies to provide compensation to surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.
A senior official at Cheong Wa Dae said, "if it (Dokdo) is the reason why Japan did not participate in the press conference, it seems very unusual," adding "I want to stress again that Dokdo is historically, geographically and legally proven as Korean territory."
The botched joint press conference was came an embarrassing moment for Washington. Though Sherman said the three countries held "a very constructive trilateral meeting," the Seoul-Tokyo conflict jeopardized the U.S.-hosted diplomatic event which was designed to show the Joe Biden administration's involvement with its two core Asian allies as a deterrence to China.
With the Dokdo dispute bursting out into the open in the U.S., talks on President Moon Jae-in's proposal to declare an official end to the Korean War have become lackluster.
Choi told reporters that the U.S. and South Korea were "thoroughly cooperating" regarding the end-of-war proposal and Sherman also said "the United States is very satisfied with the consultations we are having both with the Republic of Korea and with Japan" regarding an "end-of-war statement."
However, interpretations are mixed over the meaning of "satisfaction," because Japan earlier this month expressed its opposition to Moon's proposal, citing North Korea's continued military threats and Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.