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For the first time in eight months, the vice foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan
sat down face to face to discuss mending ties between the two countries.
A number of issues came up, with the elephant in the room being the state of bilateral relations,
which have reached a new low over Tokyo's continued distortion of historical facts.
Hwang Sung-hee reports. Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaki Saiki
arrived in Seoul Wednesday for talks with his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yong.
The meeting, which came at Tokyo's request, was the first vice foreign ministerial-level
talks between the two neighbors in eight months. Tensions are high between South Korea and
Japan over Japan's constant distortion of historical and territorial facts.
Seoul feels as though Tokyo has never officially apologized for its *** enslavement of roughly
200-thousand women in the early 20th century, as Japanese politicians consistently make
negative comments about the so-called "comfort women."
The diplomatic row has taken its toll on the South Korean public's perception of Japan.
"Public sentiment on Japan is so low that a recent poll released by the Asan Institute
for Policy Studies shows that South Koreans perceive Japan as a bigger threat than North
Korea."
According to the Asan poll, more than 65 percent of the South Korean public feel threatened
by Japan, larger than the 60 percent of the population that fear North Korea.
The figure reflects Seoul's overall consensus on Tokyo.
"That, I'm sure coincides with all the statements about comfort women, the increasing tension
that Japan is playing towards Dokdo, so all these are driving up the threat perceptions.
So now of course, the question is, is there a real threat, is it a real perceived threat
or is it something that anytime you include a question on Japan you get a negative response."
And it looks like the public sentiment in Seoul will remain low for a while, as Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continues to press his right wing policies.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye is insistent she will not sit down with a leader who fails
to acknowledge his country's historical wrongdoings. Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News.