Comments to Korean parliamentarians by Japanese vice foreign minister Shotaro Yachi on May 11 are only now becoming known and causing controversy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has reportedly already issued a strong expression of regret to the Japanese government.
The problem is that he said the United States does not fully trust Korea, and that Japan, too, has no choice but to be careful in sharing intelligence with Korea about the North. It is presumptuous for someone at the highest level of the Japanese government to be discussing the issue of mutual confidence between the US and Korea. While there has been much talk in the air since the US-Korean alliance entered a period of adjustment, the situation is not such that trust is a problem. It is a direct affront to cooperation between Korea, the US, and Japan to have Japan as a third party pull out the issue of intelligence sharing and cooperation to exaggerate things. You wonder if the motive is to try and benefit from harming the US-Korean alliance.
It is a misperception of reality and even dangerous for him in his comments to also have divided up different sides in the six-party talks, namely China and North Korea on one side and the US and Japan on the other. If China and North Korea are of the same position, you cannot explain why China is asking the North to give up its nuclear program and why the US is hoping that China will play a role in the process. It is natural that all the countries participating should be working to narrow their views in order to resolve the nuclear issue diplomatically and peacefully. Japan's approach lately, however, has been more hard-line than the hard-liners in the US, and Yachi's comments appear to be an extension of that. It would be hard to say such things without the intention being to ruin the six-party talks.
The Japanese government needs to issue an official explanation about Yachi's disgraceful remarks (mangbal) and apologize for his deviation from diplomatic convention. If his comments speak for the Japanese government then that can only be a wholesale affront to existing Korean-Japanese relations.
The Hankyoreh, 26 May 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Rude and Dangerous Comments by Japan's Vice FM |
