United States (US) Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman held a three-hour meeting with South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun, and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori in Washington on Wednesday.
The leaders discussed regional tensions, including Chinese military activity in the South China Sea, and the progress of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. According to a statement released by the US, the trio also “reaffirmed close cooperation [...] to address a broad range of global issues, including combatting the climate crisis; investing in clean energy and resilient infrastructure; upholding our shared democratic values and commitment to human rights; and working together to end the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Following the meeting, the three diplomats were scheduled to participate in a joint press conference but Sherman answered questions from reporters alone after Japanese and South Korean representatives refused to appear together on stage.
Sherman addressed her counterparts’ absence at the very start by agreeing that “there are some bilateral differences between Japan and the Republic of Korea that are continuing to be resolved”. However, she clarified that their no-show at the joint news conference was unrelated to the trilateral meeting that they had participated in earlier; Sherman described the discussion as “friendly, constructive, and substantive”.
It was confirmed hours later that Choi and Mori had pulled out of the media briefing after a disagreement over the disputed Takeshima/Dokdo islands, which are administered by South Korea but claimed by Japan.
Masashi Mizobuchi, a spokesperson for the Japanese embassy in Washington, said that Japanese officials had refused to participate in the media conference to protest a recent visit to the disputed islands by a South Korean police official.
Kim Chang-yong, the commissioner-general of South Korea’s national police agency, reportedly visited the contentious islets on Tuesday, marking the first visit by the country’s police chief for 12 years.
Tokyo “lodged a strong protest” over the visit. “Under these circumstances, we have decided that it is inappropriate to hold a joint press conference,” Mizobuchi told Reuters.
“We cannot accept this at all and regard it as extremely unfortunate, considering that [the islands] are clearly an inherent part of Japan’s territory in view of historical facts and international laws,” Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, declared.
The disputed islands—also known as the Liancourt Rocks—lie 225 kilometres off the eastern coast of South Korea. The Takeshima/Dokdo dispute is among the several issues between the two countries, stemming from Japan’s 35-year colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, which ended in 1945.
Ties between the two US allies have since remained tense, despite their common goal of containing North Korea’s continued development of nuclear weapons. In recent years, their relationship has also frayed over compensation for Korean forced labourers and Japan’s wartime use of “comfort women.”
Japan, South Korea Absent From Joint Press Conference With US Due to Years-Long Dispute
It was confirmed later that Choi and Mori pulled out of the media briefing after a disagreement over the disputed Takeshima/Dokdo islands, which are administered by South Korea but claimed by Japan.
November 18, 2021
South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-Kun, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori. IMAGE SOURCE: BHASKAR LIVE