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Our top story this lunchtime... The vice foreign ministers of Korea and Japan
will meet for talks in Seoul on Wednesday, for the first time in eight months.
But with Korea continuing its demand that Tokyo must first apologize for its wartime
crimes,... no one is holding much hope... of the two neighbors mending their frosty
ties. Our Hwang Sung-hee has more.
Amid souring ties between South Korea and Japan, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka
Saiki will arrive in Seoul Wednesday for talks with his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yong.
Seoul's foreign ministry says the two sides will exchange views on a range of issues with
no fixed agenda, but the timing of the visit is notable.
It comes just days after Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se called on Japan at a UN session
to take responsibility for its *** enslavement of women in the early 20th century.
Roughly 200-thousand women, mostly Korean, were forced to serve the Japanese military
during the Second World War and many are still waiting for a heartfelt apology from Japan.
The United States has been urging the two neighbors to put history behind them and to
mend ties, concerned the intensifying friction will affect their trilateral alliance, which
is key for countering North Korean threats and keeping an increasingly assertive China
in check. Japanese broadcaster TBS reported Monday the
U.S. government expressed strong concern about Tokyo's move to review a landmark statement
that acknowledges its forced *** enslavement of women.
The Kono statement, which was issued in 1993, was based on testimony from 16 Korean women.
The Japanese government is now questioning the validity of the testimony.
In April, U.S. President Barack Obama will try to resolve the diplomatic row when he
visits Seoul and Tokyo for summit talks. Ahead of President Obama's trip, the three
leaders will meet at the end of this month in The Hague for the Nuclear Security Summit.
While some point to the possibility of a trilateral summit, the chances of the two neighbors shaking
hands are slim. The South Korean leader has made it perfectly
clear... she will not sit down with a leader who fails to acknowledge his country's historic
wrongdoing. Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News.