Japan unilaterally cancels plan for Moon-Suga talks

Jun 15, 2021, 08:36 am

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President Moon Jae-in attends a Group of Seven (G-7) session at the Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate in Cornwall, Britain, on June 13, 2021./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Chun Hyun-bin

Japan unilaterally broke agreed-upon talks between President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Cornwall, Britain. It is also reported that Japan opposed the idea of expanding G-7 to include South Korea, India, Australia and South Africa.

Despite the government’s efforts to improve relations with its closest neighbor by taking the G7 summit as an opportunity, Japan seems to be moving further away due to its insincere attitude. Initially, the diplomatic authorities of South Korea and Japan had tentatively agreed to hold a summit during the three-day summit. However, the Japanese side called it off, citing South Korea’s annual military exercises on and around its easternmost islets of Dokdo.

“It Is a great diplomatic achievement that President Moon Jae-in held separate bilateral talks with the leaders of participating countries, including the UK, EU, Germany, France and Australia, on the occasion of attending the G-7 summit. It is regrettable that a summit with Japan did not take place,” a diplomatic official said on Monday.

“From the beginning, we looked forward to Japan’s positive response to the planned meeting with the open mind. But we express regret over Tokyo cancelling it due to our annual military drill in Dokdo,” the official said.

Japan has been protesting through diplomatic channels whenever the South Korean military drills took place in Dokdo, but many point out that it is diplomatically rude to cancel a summit using the drill as an excuse. According to Japanese media outlets, Suga said that a summit with Moon remains off the table until long-simmering issues of Japan’s wartime forced labor and sexual slavery is resolved.

The South Korean government, which has put a lot of effort into promoting the Moon-Suga talks, seems bewildered over Japan’s unilateral cancellation citing Seoul’s Dokdo drills. Although the talks was to be held informally, it could have been the first meeting between the leaders of Japan and South Korea since Suga took office, and it would have given an opportunity for the two countries to open the door for a dialogue between diplomatic authorities.

It is also known that Japan has put the brakes on the expansion plan to “Democracies 11” where South Korea and other countries participate. Japan said it is okay to tentatively invite South Korea as a guest, but it opposed South Korea’s participation in an expanded G7, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on Sunday.

#Japan #Moon-Suga #South Korea #G-7 #Democracies 11