A senior South Korean official anticipates that leaders of South Korea and Japan may issue a joint statement incorporating future-oriented commitments when the two countries commemorate the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations next year.
The statement is likely to include "future-oriented commitments and hopes to overcome the past," the presidential office official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Kyodo News and other foreign media in an interview earlier this week, adding that more comprehensive bilateral cooperation would likely be stipulated.
The official highlighted the significance of resumed reciprocal visits by the two Asian neighbors' leaders and called it a sign of improvement in bilateral ties.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to restart the so-called "shuttle diplomacy" on March 16 last year when Yoon became the first South Korean leader to visit Japan in four years.
Bilateral relations hit a low after the top court in 2018 upheld orders in separate judgments against two Japanese firms to compensate South Korean plaintiffs over wartime forced labor.
The ties have improved since the conservative government of Yoon, who took office in May 2022, said in March last year that plaintiffs who have won lawsuits over forced labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula would receive compensation from a South Korean government-backed foundation.
The official showed hope over the participation from Japanese companies in the fund, given several forced labor cases finalized between December and January and concerns over a lack of funds to pay damages to the plaintiffs and those of other ongoing lawsuits over forced labor.
"Korean firms seem to be watching the political situation to decide when is the right timing to contribute to the fund, and I think 'the cup' could be filled (not only by the South Korean firms but) with Japanese firms together," the official said.
Though such bilateral historical issues remain, Yoon's government has a strong willingness to overcome the past and foster trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan amid concerns over North Korea's missile and nuclear threats, he said.
When asked about the possibility of a summit being held between North Korea and Japan, the official said South Korea is not too worried about the impact it would have on trilateral cooperation because Seoul, Tokyo and Washington would in any case consult closely on issues related to security.
The agenda of the possible summit may include North Korea's nuclear weapons program and the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, the official speculated, while noting that South Korea and the United States have supported Japan's efforts to solve the abduction issue.
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