President seeks investment from Japan

President Kim Dae-Jung is visiting Japan for the third time starting Sept. 22.

Including Japanese Prime Minister's visit to Korea, the heads of the two countries have held six summits. It proves that the Japanese-Korean relations are better than ever.

This time, it is not a state visit but is an official visit for talks about mutual interests, as they met at a hot spring in Beppu in 1997. For this reason, the two heads are expected to have a candid dialog.

Kim's visit to Japan has three goals.

First, it is intended to consolidate friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries. In particular, it is meaningful to reaffirm their cooperation about the situation on the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia, which is changing rapidly after the South-North Korean summit.

Recently, Kim called for senior members of Japan's three coalition parties, as well as the Japanese press, to grant voting rights to Korean residents in Japan. The two heads also will study ways of cooperation through the ASEM summit, which is scheduled to be held in Seoul next month, APEC meeting in November and summit meeting of ASEAN plus Korea, China and Japan.

Second, the visit is sales diplomacy. At a time when there is speculation of an economic crisis in Korea, it would be a very important issue. Prior to Kim's visit to Japan, the two countries nearly agreed to make US$7 billion in Japanese investment in Korea during Kim's remaining two and a half years in the office.

On the first day of his visit, Kim is expected to have a dinner party with key members of the Japanese business circle, calling for their active investment in Korea. Also, Kim is planning to ask for their investment in North Korea to boost the South-North Korean economic cooperation projects.

However, he might not touch the subject of construction of an underwater tunnel between the two countries, which is mentioned by some Japanese press, during this summit meeting because the idea still is premature.

Third, Kim¡¯s visit is aimed at expanding cultural and manpower exchanges. With the upcoming World Cup Soccer Tournament in 2002 and Korea's third market-opening to Japanese culture, Korea wants to further diversify channels of cooperation and exchanges between the two countries.