Japan Should be Included in Six-Party Talks

Visiting Indonesia to attend the ASEAN+3 Summit, President Roh met with the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Bali on October 8. At the meeting, the two leaders chimed with each other that the second six-party talk to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis should be launched as soon as possible.

At the gathering about the announcement from the North to exclude Japan from the multilateral talks, Roh put stress on Japan’s role in addressing the nuclear issue by saying, “It doesn’t seem appropriate for Pyung Yang to say that.” Roh also said that the nuclear standoff could affect not only the Korean Peninsular but also the entire North East Asia. Thus, the president added, “The issue should be resolved comprehensively.” “In this regard, Japan should be engaged in the dialogue,” emphasized Roh.

As Roh said that ROK, the U.S. and Japan need to cooperate closely to see progress in the six-party talks, Koizumi responded, “It is important for Pyung Yang to understand that a peaceful resolution will benefit the North.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Koizumi reaffirmed that the Japan-North Korea rapprochement would be discussed only after resolving the nuclear tension and the abduction issue. Roh responded that he hoped dialogue between the two countries would soon begin to iron out the disputes.

Prime Minister thanked the Korean government for its decision to open up the Korean entertainment market while promising that he would do his best to satisfy both Korea and Japan in changing its visa policy.

At a press conference held before the meeting, President Roh expressed his concern that considering the energy and economic situation in the North, Pyung Yang could play for high stakes in order to get what it wants as quickly as possible. The president added, “We do not have much time since this kind of drastic movement will threaten as well as escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsular.

In the meantime, President Roh had a summit with leaders from ASEAN member countries at the Bali International Convention Center. At the Summit, Roh proposed to launch Korea-ASEAN ministerial talks to discuss about economy and trade issues. Roh also proposed to establish an expert group to study issues of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between ROK and ASEAN and cooperate to adopt a joint declaration in 2004 between the two regions. Roh also suggested ROK to dispatch 1000 experts on development cooperation annually to the ASEAN member countries.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com