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S Korea, China, Japan seek to ease tensions

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The best thing that can instantly improve the relationship between Japan and the two neighboring countries is for Abe to quit.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

It is basically the Koreans who are acting like the adult in this particular situation, acknowledging the real obstacles to trilateral comity but nevertheless trying to move the ball forward. Sugiyama sums up the Japan position very well -- Japan is ready for a summit anytime -- with the subtext that Abe is not going to do his part by refraining from his revisionism and denying history, which is a huge part of the the "unstable" situation that Lee Kyung-soo is describing.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Japan should focus on relations with China, especially as long as Park is in office. Koreans are busy isolating themselves diplomatically, and they are basically a smallish country that will always have limited influence.

Despite the anti-Japan sentiment in China, most Chinese aren't that interested in carrying a grudge forever - whereas Korea seems to be headed in the opposite direction. Maybe when Korea elects a serious president...

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

When the CCP collapses and Pak resigns. Then It'll be happy ending.

-5 ( +5 / -10 )

"As a result, trilateral cooperation “hasn’t stably settled” and can be shaken “easily, at any time,” Lee said in a statement released to the media"

Although it certainly had between South Korea and Japan after 1965, and China and Japan after 1972.

"Relations soured in 2012 when the Japanese government angered China by nationalising some of the islands."

Which were already owned by Japanese citizens and recognized as part of Okinawa Prefecture.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

Certainly it is to no one's benefit for Abe's revisionism. Honesty is always the a best policy. That said, a number of apologies have been offered up in the past (google it) which don't seem to be given any standing.

But, being castigated by South Korea over war time issues, even if true, ring hollow coming from a country at war with itself, possessing one of the most, if not the most dangerous place on earth wiht it's "fellow Koreans". If it can't play nice with it's own people, who can they play nice with.

Regarding China, I agree they have some genuine grievances. Their 9-dash line, with each neighbor in a territory dispute, they are not a model of peace, and seem hardly the country to give advice regarding such. Still, a one more, final, genuine apology seems to be necessary. Make it big and loud, for the whole world to see, and what will China and South Korea be able to do after that. Nothing but appear bitter and immature, and will lose a great deal of face internationally. Everyone understands grandstanding politics for the local electorate. All three countries are quite guilty of this.

Regarding today's news that 20% of all children in China are raised in single parent homes, along with the growing number of billionaires, China would be well served to improve the lives of it's own people rather than creating fights with all of it's neighbors.

Or how about South Korea's government instructing it's companies not to give in to an $8/month raise for North Korean workers at the Kaesong industrial park. Present day slave labour is good enough for Park and her South Korean cronies. How would the South Korean economy be doing if it were not for this incredible gift that only they benefit of basically slave labor in 2015? How would the economies of Japan or the USA be doing if it licensed itself this below poverty slave labor wage. Like I said, Park and her cronies are laughing all the way to the bank. But, Japan is bad!

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

To put an end to this everlasting issue. I propose Japan to set up a "National Day of Apology" on August 15 which is the day Japan surrendered in 1945. Today, the day is not a national holiday but make it a new national holiday and all Japanese recall mistakes we made and apologize to all the nations involved.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Or how about South Korea's government instructing it's companies not to give in to an $8/month

I don't see what this has got to do with this topic, but as usual people bringing in false accusations and reasonings into this argument where it's claimed that Japan couldn't have possibly contributed to the bad relations between Japan and her neighbors. It's always the other's fault, never Japan's own doings.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Tension will remain to get media attention.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

titaniumdioxide: "When the CCP collapses and Pak resigns. Then It'll be happy ending."

Park has not been very diplomatic with Japan, true, but that is in reaction to moves made my Tokyo and other politicians in Japan. They have a genuine chance here to patch things up slightly, and so Abe and Co. need to tread lightly and be very careful in regards to the upcoming 'new apology'. If he does what everyone expects he will do and change working like 'colonialism' to 'governship' and 'aggression' to 'defense' and what have you, Japan will have only itself to blame for the guaranteed fallout. Meanwhile, if people like yourself continue to deflect any and all blame and put it on THE VICTIMS of atrocities in the past, well, again, be sure to look in the mirror when seeking out someone to blame.

It would be best if they avoided talking about the past and about the island issues altogether, but that's likely not going to happen. Like I said, with the upcoming 'apology summit' Seoul and Beijing are going to be watching like hawks waiting to pounce, and rightly so. Japan is going to raise the island issue with South Korea -- who feels it's a non-issue, and China is going to do the same with Japan, who feels it's a non-issue. And, no one will get anywhere. All we can really do is hope that the politics cease in tainting grass roots exchange. I have friends here who LOVE Korean dramas but some have stopped watching because they "don't like Park", which is just plain stupid. Same if they like some J-pop in Korea or something, or even worse when sports exchanges are cancelled by either or both sides because of petty political squabbles. Let the children in the Diet and equivalents in Seoul and Beijing fight if they must, but let the rest of us get on with real life.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

S Korea, China, Japan seek to ease tensions

A full, unequivocal, irrevocable statement of WW2 wrongdoing and remorse by Japan would do wonders.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

The Government of the United States in April 2007, US Senate Foreign Relations Security Council in a survey report, was officially denied the existence of all of the war crimes committed by Imperial Japanese Army in WW2. http://www.archives.gov/iwg/reports/final-report-2007.pdf

This link is the very thought-provoking comment of the Journalist Michael Yon. https://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage/posts/10152528332430665:0

1 ( +1 / -0 )

titaniumdi0xide MAR. 12, 2015 - 08:15AM JST When the CCP collapses and Pak resigns. Then It'll be happy ending.

Happy ending for LDP and big business owners, as for the rest not so much especially the working families in Japan.

I would like to hope for the best but I'm not counting on it. All three countries have their best interests in petty political hissyfit than caring for wellbeing of their citizens.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

There were three Supreme Leaders in Hell - Chairman Mao, Ayatollah Khomeini and Kim Jong Il. Wanting to know what was going on in the world above, they asked Satan to let them call the ruling parties in their former countries, hoping to provide advice to the new leadership.

The Ayatollah called Iran and talked for 10 minutes then, satisfied with the nuclear advancements in Iran, paid Satan 10,000 yuan. Kim Jong Il called North Korea and talked to his son for 15 minutes then, satisfied with the standoff with the West, paid Satan 15,000 yuan for the call. Then Chairman Mao Zedung called Chairman Xi Jinqing and talked for over an hour about the failure of economic reform and rampant PLA corruption and the overwhelming pollution of the air and water and food that was killing over a million Chinese every year, which was just getting worse and worse. Scared about all that was going wrong in the PRC, Chairman Mao asked how much his call had cost then, so happy to hear that the price would only be 10 yuan, paid Satan for the very long talk.

Offended by the difference in telephone charges, Kim Jong Il and the Ayatollah complained that Chairman Mao had spoken to Chairman Xi for over an hour and paid only 10 yuan, while they themselves had spoken for only a few minutes and paid exorbitantly in the thousands of yuan...to which Satan responded: "A CALL FROM HELL TO HELL IS LOCAL."

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

lachance's bad joke is precisely that -- bad. I have not been in Iran, but I have been to China and Iran. Neither Iran nor China are paradises on earth but the vast majority of the population of both have a good enough standard of living and a degree of freedom so much so that Iranian democracy while limited is oxymoronic. North Korea is the true hell, and for lachance to ascribe that status to China and Xi only reflects the sometimes unseemly demonization of China. Criticize China all you want, and I have done so to the faces of Chinese themselves, but get some intellectual integrity behind it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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