Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea, Yu Myung-hwan and his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone held a ROK-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on February 11. During the meeting, they exchanged views on ways to strengthen cooperation in a variety of areas, political situation on the Korean Peninsula including North Korea’s nuclear issue and collaboration at the international stage to overcome the global financial crisis.

During the discussions, the two Ministers reaffirmed that they would consider the visit of President Lee Myung-bak to Japan at a time of mutual convenience during this year. Minister Yu extended gratitude to Minister Nakasone for inviting him to Japan and expressed willingness to visit Japan at the earliest possible date.

ROK-Japan Relationship

The two Ministers shared the view that ROK and Japan should step up their common efforts to further strengthen bilateral economic cooperation in the midst of the current global financial crisis. They also agreed to closely work together at the G-20 summit on financial markets and the world economy to be held in London in April to come up with detailed action plans for economic recovery and the prevention of protectionism. Moreover, they pledged to cooperate at the related international organizations, such as WTO and OECD.

They also agreed to cooperate to implement the agreements between the leaders of the two countries, such as promoting Japan’s investment in Korea in the parts and material industries, and cooperation for a success of the 2012 Yeosu Expo. 

With regard to the working group on reviewing the resumption of ROK-Japan FTA negotiation, the two Ministers agreed to raise the post of chief delegate to the level of deputy director-general.

Cultural and People to people Exchange

In addition, the two Ministers agreed to actively cooperate for the expansion of cultural and people-to-people exchanges. To this end, they decided to carry out inter-agency coordination to expand the Korea-Japan Joint Government Scholarship Program for Students in the Science and Engineering Field, increasing the number of beneficiaries up to 1,000 for the next 10 years, to launch the “The 3rd Conference on ROK-Japan Cultural Exchanges” focusing on civil exchanges, and to hold a “ROK-Japan Cultural Festival,” which has been held in Seoul since 2005, in Tokyo as well as Seoul for the first time this year. The two Ministers welcomed the official launch of the “ROK-Japan New Era Joint Research Project” on February 23. They hoped that the project will help present a blue print for the bilateral cooperation between the two neighbors.
While appreciating the outcome of the working-level consultation on dealing with marine litters on February 6, they agreed to make joint efforts to resolve the issue. Also they welcomed that the two sides agreed to hold the 10th working-level meeting to determine the boundaries of EEZ between ROK and Japan on March 9.

Concerted efforts to deal with North Korean nuclear issue

The two Ministers agreed to make continuous efforts at the Six-party Talks to realize denuclearization of North Korea at an early date. They shared the view that the tension built by the recent hard-line comments by North Korea is not desirable and urged North Korea to take action to contribute to the regional stability.
Minister Nakasone expressed support for the Korean government’s policy toward North Korea and its efforts to improve inter-Korean relations. Minister Yu stated that the Korean government will continue to provide possible support to resolve the issue of Japanese abductees from the humanitarian perspective.

Given the international standing of ROK and Japan, the two Ministers shared the view that the two countries should expand cooperation to contribute to resolving pending issues of the international society. With regard to joint development cooperation projects for reconstruction in Afghanistan agreed at the Korea-Japan summit on January 12, the two Ministers agreed to carry out 3 projects as priorities, namely training program for Afghan master trainers, ROK-Japan joint training program and testing cultivation of soybean seeds. They also agreed to promote joint projects in other areas.

The two Ministers were pleased to launch the ROK-Japan senior level working group on multilateral issues, such as the United Nations, for the first time this year. They agreed to work together to deal with pirates off the Somali coast.

Minister Nakasone reaffirmed the Japanese government’s strong support for Korea’s accession to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in 2010 as well as its bid to host the High-level Event on the Effects of International Assistance in 2011.