Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported that Dokdo was not separately mentioned in a meeting between President Yoon Seok-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Sankei is a Japanese far-right daily newspaper.
On the 20th (local time), the Sankei Shimbun said, “(Prime Minister Kishida) demanded the implementation of the comfort women agreement in 2015 or the abolition of restrictions on imports of fishery products from Fukushima, but there was no progress.” It was not mentioned individually.”
Sado Mine is a site of forced labor for Koreans during the Japanese colonial period. The Japanese government submitted an application for listing the Sado Mine as a World Heritage Site last year, but after deficiencies were identified, it submitted a supplementary application in January.
In addition, the media added, “The Prime Minister pointed out the issue of the radar investigation of the patrol plane in 2018 as an pending issue.”
The report by the Sankei Shimbun is interpreted as a rebuttal to the report that there was mention of the comfort women issue between the leaders of Korea and Japan.
NHK reported that “Prime Minister Kishida demanded that the South Korean side faithfully implement the past bilateral agreement on the comfort women issue during the meeting, and conveyed Japan’s position on the issue surrounding Dokdo.”
Afterwards, the presidential office explained that “there was no talk of Dokdo at all during the small-group talks or the expanded talks,” and Foreign Minister Park Jin also said that the territorial sovereignty over Dokdo or the Japanese comfort women issue were not on the agenda at the summit.
In addition, the leaders of Korea and Japan will develop Korea-Japan relations following the normalization of diplomatic relations, resume shuttle diplomacy between the two leaders, evaluate Prime Minister Kishida on the Korean government’s solution to the forced labor issue, establish a consultative body on economic security and resume security dialogue, and They discussed the normalization of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA).
Meanwhile, the two heads of state also enjoyed ‘harmony liquor’ after the meeting. Regarding this, Sankei said, “The two heads of state have been trying to improve Korea-Japan relations by exchanging drinks to build trust at a dinner party after the meeting, but our (Japanese) government has repeatedly suffered from betrayal in the past. We need to see if that was the case,” he said.
In particular, the media was concerned about the possibility of overturning the right to indemnity in relation to the forced labor solution. The solution proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea is to have the judgments to be paid to victims of forced labor who win against Japanese war criminal companies through a foundation under the Ministry of Public Administration and Security rather than through a Japanese company.
Sankei said, “The Korean government has been responding in accordance with past regime changes and domestic situations.” I muttered,” he said.
Previously, even after the announcement of the forced labor solution bill on the 7th, Sankei mentioned the remarks of Lee Jae-myung, the head of the Democratic Party of Korea, saying, “This is the greatest disgrace and blemish in the history of diplomacy, comparable to the ‘three wars of humiliation’.” It is reported that in case of arrest, there is a concern that the foundation that paid the compensation may exercise its right to indemnity and demand a return from Japan.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.