Japan, South Korea discuss better ties

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ATAMI, Japan -- South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori put aside their nations' past animosities on Saturday, pledging to work together to improve relations with long-time military threat North Korea.

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"Improved relations between Japan and North Korea will serve our (South Korea's) national interests and will have a great impact on regional security and the development of South-North relations," Kim said after the first round of talks Saturday at a hot spring resort southwest of Tokyo.

During the first meeting between Japan and South Korea since a historic June summit between the Koreas, Kim said Japan was crucial to improving relations with the North.

"It's difficult to see continued success in the South-North relationship without improvements in Japan and North Korea's relationship," Kim said. "That is in our national interests as well as the interests of overall northeast Asian security."

Strengthening North and South Korean ties have contributed to growing contacts between Tokyo and North Korea, a relationship that suffered a setback two years ago when the North tested a ballistic missile that flew over Japan.

Kim told Mori on Saturday that he had the impression during the June North-South summit that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was eager to normalize ties with Japan.

In August, a North Korean delegation visited Japan to discuss creating diplomatic ties.

During their talks, Japanese negotiators refused North Korea's demand for compensation for Japanese occupation, but floated the possibility of economic aid similar to that provided to South Korea when the two nations normalized ties in 1965.

Two years ago, when Kim Dae-jung made his first trip to Japan as president, talks were dominated by a proposed Japanese apology for its brutal military annexation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945.

During the occupation, the Japanese banned Koreans from using their own language and forced them to use Japanese names. Thousands of Korean women were made to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese army. But on Saturday both leaders barely touched upon historical issues, agreeing to coordinate their nations' advanced technology skills in a newly formed alliance.

The "Japan-Korea cooperation initiative" issued after Saturday's talks included promises to work together on Internet commerce as well as research and development in information technology.

The two nations also pledged to secure a bilateral investment deal by the end of this year and to work toward a free trade agreement.

Kim also urged Japan to adopt a bill by year's end to extend local voting rights to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Koreans living in Japan without Japanese citizenship.

Mori responded that he was working hard for the passage of such a bill.

Japan's ethnic Korean population stems from thousands of South Koreans who were forcibly brought to Japan before World War II to work under slave labor conditions.

In a statement that seemed to suggest a lessening of South Korean animosity toward Japan, Kim said he would welcome a proposed visit by Japanese emperor Akihito to South Korea.

"A successful visit by the Japanese emperor and the successful co-hosting of the 2002 World Cup soccer games would bring South Korea and Japan far closer than what we can imagine," Mori said.

In addition, as part of efforts to improve cultural ties, Mori promised legislation to introduce Korean as an optional language for Japanese college entrance exams.

"I hope exchanges and understanding between our two people will take another leap forward," Mori said.

Kim complained, however, of South Korea's growing Japanese trade deficit. Mori blamed the trade imbalance on structural problems within South Korean industries, a Japanese official said.

South Korea posted a trade deficit of $8.1 billion in trade with Japan during the first eight months of this year, compared with an $8.3 billion deficit for all of 1999.

Kim said North Korea's leader had expressed support during their summit for U.S. troops to continue to be stationed on the Korean Peninsula, even after a possible unification of the two Koreas.

"This means that the North wants to improve its relations with the United States," the South Korean president said.

Mori said Japan would closely coordinate with the United States and South Korea in dealing with North Korea.

Mori said he would meet with North Korea's Kim Jong Il when proper preparations had been made.

"We are not concretely discussing it, but considering developments regarding North Korea ... if preparations can be made, it is possible that I can meet him," Mori said.

"We must normalize relations with North Korea and for that, we must ask the cooperation of President Kim Dae-jung," Mori said.

On Sunday, Mori and Kim will devote most of a scheduled breakfast chat to North Korean issues, Japanese officials said.

CNN Tokyo Bureau Chief Marina Kamimura, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Prime Minister's Office (Japan)
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
North Korea: Politics and Government
North Korea

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