TOKYO, Jan 21 (NNN-NHK) – Japanese Foreign Minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, in a speech, at the start of this year’s regular Diet session, outlined a number of the government’s foreign policy initiatives.
On ties that have been strained of late, between Japan and South Korea, owing to a wartime labour row, spilling over into tit-for-tat trade disputes, Motegi reiterated calls for a previous accord on the issue.
Relations between both countries soured, since South Korean court rulings ordered Japanese companies, in Oct, 2018, to pay compensation to victims of forced labour during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.
Japan, for its part, claimed, the rulings are not in line with international law and run contrary to the foundation of friendly and cooperative relations between the two neighbours, since the 1965 normalisation of diplomatic ties.
Tokyo believes the matter of compensation for wartime labour was “finally and completely” resolved under the pact, whereas the administration of South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, said that, while it does not reject the pact in principle, it cannot overturn the decision of another branch of government.
As for plans to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact, in the months ahead, Motegi said, Japan would take a leadership role in shaping international trade paradigms, as well as, debate on reforming the World Trade Organisation.
The Japanese foreign minister also said, with regard to China, Japan’s biggest trading partner, both countries “share a great responsibility to ensure peace and prosperity of Asia and the world,” and both countries should regularly conduct high-level dialogue and increase exchanges and collaboration traversing a variety of fields.– NNN-NHK
