Ban Ki-moon, South Korea's foreign minister, urged Japanese politicians Tuesday to play a bigger role in repairing ties battered by Tokyo's wayward claim over islets controlled by Seoul.
In his meeting with Taku Yamasaki, a visiting Japanese political heavyweight, Ban pointed out that there are a lot of unresolved issues between Seoul and Tokyo, including the interpretation of their shared modern history.
Along with Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso, the lower house lawmaker is said to be among the candidates to replace Junichiro Koizumi after the prime minister's term expires in September.
"The two nations managed to avert the crisis caused by (Japan's) plan to conduct an ocean survey late last month through consultations, but there are a bunch of unresolved problems between South Korea and Japan, including the history issue," Ban told Yamasaki and his entourage in the opening part of the meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.
Political leaders need to play a bigger role in resolving the issues, he also stressed.
Ban was referring to a narrowly averted crisis triggered by Japan's push for an unauthorized hydrographic research in the South Korean exclusive economic zone in waters near the Dokdo islets in the East Sea.
In response, Yamasaki said, "I would like to appreciate your diplomatic initiative, which enabled Japan and South Korea to resolve the crisis via diplomacy."
The lawmaker's three-day trip to Seoul, which started on Monday, coincided with another high-profile visit here by Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Japan's senior vice foreign minister for foreign affairs.
Shiozaki had a 50-minute meeting with Ban in which South Korea's top diplomat called for Japan to look at the "historic roots" of the Dokdo issue that date back to Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in the early 1900s.
The Japanese diplomat also proposed one-on-one talks between the two nations' foreign ministers in a forthcoming regional forum.
Ban and his Japanese counterpart Aso are scheduled to attend the Asia Cooperation Dialogue slated for May 23-24 in Doha, Qatar.
Ban reportedly said he would positively consider meeting with Aso there as part of Seoul's policy to keep open an "indispensable" dialogue channel with Tokyo.
President Roh Moo-hyun has virtually cut off his biannual summit with Koizumi since the Japanese leader made another pilgrimage to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo last October despite strong protests by South Korea and China.
(Yonhap News Agency)
South Korean Foreign Minister Stresses Role of Japanese Politicians |
