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. -------------- HISTORY IS THE MIRROR FOR THE FUTURE -------------- ¶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. �00A;¶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. -------------- EEZ, FTA, CULTURAL EXCHANGES -------------- ¶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. -------------- NORTH KOREA -------------- ¶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. -------------- TRILATERAL FM MEETING -------------- ¶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