ROK-JAPAN MINISTERIAL TALKS DOGGED BY HISTORY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 000971

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON KS JA
SUBJECT: ROK-JAPAN MINISTERIAL TALKS DOGGED BY HISTORY


Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Y. Yun. Reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: On April 2, MOFAT Northeast Asia Division I
Director Lee Hee-sup told poloff that the March 31 - April 1
talks between ROK Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and visiting
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso focused on history issues
(comfort women, textbooks, Yasukuni) and included discussions
of bilateral matters (Liancourt Rocks, EEZ, FTA, and cultural
exchanges) as well as North Korea and Northeast Asia. While
the atmosphere was cordial, the ROK and Japanese positions
were too far apart to allow much progress; the two sides did
not discuss a visit to Japan by President Roh in 2007. Lee
said that Seoul, however, had received initial positive
reactions to its initiative for a ROK-Japan-PRC Foreign
Ministerial trilateral on June 3 in Korea. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) On April 2, Lee Hee-sup, Northeast Asia Division I
(Japan) Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, provided poloff a readout of the March 31 - April 1
ministerial talks between ROK Foreign Minister Song Min-soon
and visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Jeju
Island, South Korea. Lee said that the two Ministers held a
two-hour meeting on Saturday, March 31, followed by a
two-hour dinner. On Sunday, April 1, the ministers took a
short walk together for about 10 minutes. Talks focused on
history issues, ROK-Japan matters, North Korea and regional
subjects.

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HISTORY IS THE MIRROR FOR THE FUTURE
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3. (C) In his opening remarks, Foreign Minister Song
commented that history was like a mirror to see the future,
and that unless one had a proper and clear mirror, one would
get a distorted perception, Lee said. Japan must endeavor to
clearly portray its history or risk, among other things,
increased suspicion of its future role and regional
relations. Song expressed regret over Japanese Prime
Minister Abe's remarks that suggested a denial of the
Government of Japan's role in the comfort women issue.
Japanese Foreign Minister Aso restated Abe's March 26
comments to the Japanese Diet that reaffirmed the 1993 Kono
statement and expressed Abe's apology as Prime Minister. Lee
lamented that the recent controversies would not have arisen
under Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, who Lee
characterized as more skilled in public remarks.


4. (C) On Japanese textbooks, Seoul and Tokyo had trumpeted
their positions ahead of the talks. On March 30, a day
before Aso's arrival, Japan's Education Ministry had
announced initial results of its review of high school
textbooks that had allegedly allowed, or encouraged,
controversial descriptions of Liancourt Rocks and comfort
women issues. MOFAT in response, also on March 30, issued a
statement that it was intolerable that the Japanese Ministry
endorsed textbooks that described the Liancourt Rocks as
Japanese territory; MOFAT also called for a withdrawal of
that endorsement. At the ministerial talks, Aso stated that
Tokyo could not order publishers how to write textbooks and
could only offer guidelines, Lee said. Song responded that
some would not differentiate between textbooks and the
Japanese Government, so Tokyo should take steps to address
the matter. (NOTE: a local Korean daily on April 2
editorialized that the Japanese Education Ministry had
changed elements of the textbooks to ignore the ROK claim
that the waters between the two countries were called the
"East Sea," to delete readings that discussed the Japanese
Army's order of mass suicide of civilians during the battle
of Okinawa, and to include alternative views on the numbers
of deaths in the Nanjing Massacre. END NOTE.)


5. (C) On Yasukuni, Song argued that Class-A war criminals
should not be honored in the Yasukuni Shrine. Aso, however,
noted that this issue was for Shrine officials to decide and
that Tokyo did not consider this a state matter.


6. (C) Asked if Song and Aso had discussed a possible visit
to Japan by President Roh, Lee said that Tokyo had announced
before the meeting that a Roh visit would be "difficult"
ahead of July Upper House elections, so there was no reason
for Song and Aso to discuss it further. Lee opined that
Japan would probably be concerned that a visit by Roh at this
point would only give the history issue more prominence.

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EEZ, FTA, CULTURAL EXCHANGES
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7. (C) Lee said that Song and Aso agreed to hold another
round of working-level talks on Exclusive Economic Zones
(EEZ) within the first half of 2007. The EEZ had been
discussed during Director-General talks on March 4 and at
Vice Ministerial talks March 11-13, but one sticking point,
among many, was that the Japanese insisted on using the
Liancourt Rocks as a starting point for its EEZ, which the
ROKG could not accept. Aso noted that each capital had their
own positions on the Liancourt Rocks, but Song countered that
the ROKG would not accept any Japanese claim to the islets.
Asked about the potential for dueling oceanographic surveys
this spring, Lee offered that problems arose in 2006 when the
ROK had announced its intention to conduct surveys in late
2005 and the Japanese felt compelled to counter-survey. At
this point, however, neither Seoul nor Tokyo had made any
announcements for 2007, so there was a de facto standown.
This could change if either side decided to push ahead. In
addition to maritime DG talks, Song and Aso agreed to hold
working-level talks to discuss the Middle East and the
Americas.


8. (C) Aso raised the need to resume ROK-Japan FTA talks,
which stopped in late 2004 after six rounds of meetings.
Song, however, insisted that the first order of business
should be to reach an understanding on a high-level,
comprehensive FTA before working-level meetings resumed. Lee
explained the Japanese position to be that a FTA should open
50 percent of the agricultural markets, but the ROKG wanted
openings of 75 to 80 percent. Without a common objective,
the prospects for resuming FTA talks before the next ROK
administration were low.


9. (C) On a positive note, Aso invited 1,000 South Korean
students per year for the next five years on a bilateral
exchange program. Lee said that Prime Minister Abe's office
had developed a proposal to invite 6,000 students per year
and that it was notable that South Korea would get one-sixth
of the slots.

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NORTH KOREA
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10. (C) Song and Aso agreed to work closely to implement the
February 13 "Initial Actions" agreement. Aso emphasized that
it was important to Tokyo to also make progress on the
abduction issue. Song noted that Seoul understood Japan's
sensitivities and offered to do what it could to help
Japanese efforts and during the February 27 - March 2
inter-Korean ministerial talks had encouraged DPRK delegates
to resolve the issue of Korean and Japanese abductions. Aso
said he appreciated that effort.

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TRILATERAL FM MEETING
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11. (C) Song proposed to Aso that they hold a trilateral
meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Li on June 3 in Jeju,
South Korea, and Aso agreed. Asked for China's view, Lee
said that Seoul had not received a final decision, but
Beijing had sent some positive signals. Lee added that at
ASEAN Plus Three talks in Cebu, Philippines in January, Song
had initially raised the idea for a trilateral meeting to
discuss energy issues and the Middle East, given that South
Korea, Japan and China were all oil importing nations.
VERSHBOW