Japan, South Korea agree to advance FTA talks
19/12/2004 9:06
The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea agreed Saturday to
strengthen bilateral cooperation and push forward the ongoing negotiations on
reaching a free trade agreement (FTA).
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka
Machimura and South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon
discussed in detail the timetable of the FTA talks, agreeing to start a new
round of negotiations from next January with an aim to conclude the deal
by
the end of 2005, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
Machimura told Ban that
thanks to a string of political, economic and cultural events planned for next
year, he believes more satisfactory achievements will be made. The two
governments have named 2005 as a "friendship year."
Ban echoed by saying that
he believes a growing number of South Koreans will travel to Japan with Tokyo's
relaxation on visa issuance and increase of flights.
Ban also repeated South
Korea's request that Japan make permanent its planned measure for temporary
visa-waivers for South Korean visitors during the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi
Prefecture from March to September.
The ministerial talks came after a summit
meeting on Friday between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South
Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
Koizumi told a press conference Friday that
Japan will consider doubling the number of shuttle flights between Tokyo and
Seoul to eight per day.
Roh urged Japan to address the perception gap on its
past militarism and asked Koizumi to reconsider his visits to Tokyo's
war-related Yasukuni Shrine that honors war criminals along with Japanese war
dead.
Ban referred to Roh's hope expressed in the summit meeting that Japan
will deal with the history issue on its own initiative and specifically sought
the continuance of a joint history study the two countries are
conducting.
The South Korean minister also asked Japan to collect and return
the remains of Korean civilians forced to work in Japan during World War II in
addition to those of soldiers and military employees.
On the abduction
dispute between Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Ban
called on Japan to be cautious in imposing economic sanctions on
Pyongyang.
The Japanese government has claimed that the cremated remains
delivered by the DPRK of a Japanese abductee are those of another
person.
Koizumi said after the summit meeting that Japan would consider
whether to impose sanctions depending on the response of the DPRK.
Roh urged
Japan to take careful steps for fear that a harsh move would dent the efforts
for an early restart of the six-party talks.
Xinhua
|
