ID :
45160
Wed, 02/11/2009 - 21:43
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/45160
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea, Japan team up on Afghan aid, seek closer ties on N.K. nuke issue
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Japan agreed Wednesday on a concrete
plan for the joint support of Afghanistan while urging their neighbor North Korea
to stop stoking regional tension.
In their talks here, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and his Japanese counterpart
Hirofumi Nakasone picked three tasks for their joint operation in Afghanistan --
vocational training, bean seed development, and invitation of Afghan trainees.
The agreement is a follow-up to a summit deal last month by the leaders of the
two sides to cooperate in development assistance for the war-ravaged nation.
"South Korea and Japan will send their own experts to the South Korea-Afghan
Vocational Training Center to educate Afghan vocational training instructors,"
Seoul's foreign ministry said in a press release. The center is located inside
the U.S. Air Force Base in Bagram, about 80km north of Kabul.
The two sides will also share the cost of assisting non-governmental
organizations working to improve Afghanistan's agricultural sector and exchange
curriculums for Afghan trainees who will study in South Korea and Japan on their
agreed joint government sponsorship program, it added.
With regard to North Korean issues, Yu and Nakasone urged the communist nation to
stop raising tensions.
"The ministers shared the perception that North Korea's move to escalate tension
is not desirable and urged it to act in a direction to contribute to the
stabilization of the region," it said.
Pyongyang declared last week it was scrapping a non-aggression pact with Seoul
and nullifying the de facto western sea border. Intelligence officials say North
Korea is now getting ready to to test-launch its long-range missile.
Nakasone threw his weight behind South Korea's current stringent policy on the
North and its efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue, while Yu promised Seoul's
continued support for Japan's attempt to resolve the issue of its nationals
abducted by Pyongyang decades ago.
With the aim of expanding human exchanges, the ministers agreed to extend a joint
government scholarship program for 1,000 South Korean students to study science
and engineering in Japanese universities for the coming 10 years.
Wednesday's agreement is a step forward for the two countries whose often-prickly
relations are challenged by diplomatic rows over shared history and territory,
part of the legacy of Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Nakasone will head back to Tokyo later Wednesday after a courtesy call on South
Korean President Lee Myung-bak. It is his first trip to Seoul since taking
office in September.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Japan agreed Wednesday on a concrete
plan for the joint support of Afghanistan while urging their neighbor North Korea
to stop stoking regional tension.
In their talks here, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and his Japanese counterpart
Hirofumi Nakasone picked three tasks for their joint operation in Afghanistan --
vocational training, bean seed development, and invitation of Afghan trainees.
The agreement is a follow-up to a summit deal last month by the leaders of the
two sides to cooperate in development assistance for the war-ravaged nation.
"South Korea and Japan will send their own experts to the South Korea-Afghan
Vocational Training Center to educate Afghan vocational training instructors,"
Seoul's foreign ministry said in a press release. The center is located inside
the U.S. Air Force Base in Bagram, about 80km north of Kabul.
The two sides will also share the cost of assisting non-governmental
organizations working to improve Afghanistan's agricultural sector and exchange
curriculums for Afghan trainees who will study in South Korea and Japan on their
agreed joint government sponsorship program, it added.
With regard to North Korean issues, Yu and Nakasone urged the communist nation to
stop raising tensions.
"The ministers shared the perception that North Korea's move to escalate tension
is not desirable and urged it to act in a direction to contribute to the
stabilization of the region," it said.
Pyongyang declared last week it was scrapping a non-aggression pact with Seoul
and nullifying the de facto western sea border. Intelligence officials say North
Korea is now getting ready to to test-launch its long-range missile.
Nakasone threw his weight behind South Korea's current stringent policy on the
North and its efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue, while Yu promised Seoul's
continued support for Japan's attempt to resolve the issue of its nationals
abducted by Pyongyang decades ago.
With the aim of expanding human exchanges, the ministers agreed to extend a joint
government scholarship program for 1,000 South Korean students to study science
and engineering in Japanese universities for the coming 10 years.
Wednesday's agreement is a step forward for the two countries whose often-prickly
relations are challenged by diplomatic rows over shared history and territory,
part of the legacy of Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Nakasone will head back to Tokyo later Wednesday after a courtesy call on South
Korean President Lee Myung-bak. It is his first trip to Seoul since taking
office in September.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)
