Joint study on Korea-Japan relations due out in first half

By Byun Duk-kun
TOKYO, Jan. 15 (Yonhap) -- The outcome of the first joint study by South Korea
and Japan on the future of their relations will soon be made available as the
countries carefully mark the anniversary of the Japanese colonial rule of Korea
that started 100 years ago, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Friday.
A policy report by a joint study group of South Korean and Japanese scholars on
ways to build "future-oriented" Seoul-Tokyo ties will be presented to both of the
countries' governments in the first half of the year, it said.
The planned publication of the report was reported to South Korea's Foreign
Minister Yu Myung-hwan when he met with the Japanese co-chair of the joint study
group, professor Masao Okonogi of Keio University.
"Minister Yu praised the work of the joint study group and asked the group to
further help guide the two countries toward a future-oriented relationship,"
ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun told reporters here.
Yu arrived in Tokyo earlier Friday for the 4th Forum for East Asia and Latin
America Cooperation.
The Japanese professor said the conditions for better Korea-Japan ties are
already improving, noting recent polls showing that the sentiment of both South
Korean and Japanese people toward each other has greatly improved in recent
years, according to the ministry spokesman.
Yu urged the Japanese government to guarantee voting rights of Korean residents
here, most of whose ancestors moved here as forced laborers during Japan's
1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
"Giving suffrage to permanent Korean residents here will mean a lot to those
people, but it will also mean a great deal to the development of Korea-Japan
relations," the South Korean minister was quoted as saying.
The 100th anniversary of Korea's annexation by Japan is causing renewed, if not
heated, emotions in South Korea, but South Korean President Lee Myung-bak last
year invited Japanese Emperor Akihito to Seoul in a gesture of reconciliation and
willingness to begin a fresh start with Japan.
The Japanese emperor has yet to respond to the invitation, while South Korean
officials have noted that what he will do or say while visiting Seoul is more
important than whether he will visit.
The South Korean foreign minister will hold bilateral talks with his Japanese
counterpart, Katsuya Okada, early Saturday.
He will wrap up his three-day visit after also meeting with China's Foreign
Minister Yang Jiechi.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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