Posted on : Oct.17,2006 14:48 KST
Stalled for nearly 2 years, talks revived after North’s test
South Korea and Japan will likely resume defense ministerial talks, stalled since January 2005, as early as this year.
An official of the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said on October 16, "I know that the two nations are adjusting necessary problems in order to hold the ministerial talks, such as the timeframe and agenda through multilateral channels," adding, "It won’t immediately happen, but in the near future, we will be able to resume the talks."
The ministry forecasts that the talks will take place before the end of this year. The ministry on October 9 reported to the National Assembly defense committee that during their summit meeting that day, President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to resume high-ranking military exchanges.
Since the two nations agreed on policies to develop a "future-oriented, cooperative Seoul-Tokyo relationship" at the ROK-Japan summit in June 2003, the Ministry of National Defense has pushed ahead with discussion of a comprehensive, cooperative military relationship. But due to Japan’s claiming the Dokdo islets in the East Sea, islets that it calls Takeshima, and the teaching in Japanese schools of a controversially moderate version of Japan’s imperial history, the defense ministerial talks have been deadlocked for a year and nine months. The bilateral talks were last held in Seoul in January last 2005.
North Korea’s nuclear test on October 9 may have pushed the two nations to resume the ministerial talks. A South Korean military official said, "As tensions have been elevated on the Korean peninsula with Pyongyang’s nuclear test, like it or not, the government is keenly feeling the necessity of dialogue with Japan to control the situation."
