The new Korean leader meets delegation sent by the Tokyo "hawk". Despite the good relations between both parties, battle remains over Dokdo / Takeshima islands and the colonial past: "The wounds have yet to heal”. However, an alliance could be formed against the common enemy: China.

Seoul (AsiaNews) - Park Geun-hye, President-elect of South Korea, this morning met with a special delegation sent by the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. This is the first diplomatic test for the new leader of Seoul, who won the elections on 19 December, with a slim majority against Democrat Moon Jae-in. The meeting takes place at a particular time for both nations, who have each chosen a right-wing government and extremist nationalistic point of view.

The Japanese delegation is led by former Japanese Minister of Finance, Fukushiro Nukaga, who delivered a personal letter to the Park from his Prime Minister Abe. The Tokyo "hawk", according to some sources, underlined in the importance of "a good relationship with South Korea, a very important nation and a dear neighbor of Japan." Even if they were true, these words cannot ease ever present friction.

Abe became Prime Minister of Japan in December 2012. In his program, there was a "revision" of the Land of the Rising Sun's formal apology for the invasion of the Korean peninsula - from 1910 to 1945 - and a "strengthening" of Japanese territorial claims over the disputed islands, which the Japanese call Takeshima and Koreans Dokdo. His spokesman confirmed today that these commitments "remain."

For her part, before meeting the delegation, Park said that the islands "are not subject to negotiations," and urged the party to "deal directly" with the question of "improving" the future of both nations. She also said: "Both sides must have a correct understanding of the history and work to heal the wounds that have been inflicted if they want to overcome this situation in a positive way." However, the President-elect of Korea - who will take office next February - did not want to clarify how she intends to handle the situation.

According to several analysts, diplomatic tensions and territorial disputes between Tokyo and Seoul could be set aside in the name of greater effort, to stop or limit the influence of China in the South China Sea and East Asia. In fact both Park and Abe had indicated the United States as a strategic partner, rejecting Beijing's overtures for a common Asian market under its aegis. Both new leaders also come from parties that have good relations with each other, even if at times they are mixed.

 

• Japan
• Korea
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• shinzo
• abe
• political
• relations
• tensions
• china