Leaders of Japan and South Korea pledged economic co-operation amid the global financial crisis and discussed regional issues such as moving forward talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear arms programmes. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's two-day visit to South Korea came as both leaders have seen their approval ratings fall as their export-dependent countries have been hit hard by the global economic slowdown.
Their brief and business-like summit largely steered clear of problems that clouded other meetings of the leaders of the Asian economic powers such as disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula and a territorial row over desolate islets. "I believe the co-operation and our work with the international community will be of major help for the world economy to quickly overcome the crisis," Lee told a joint news conference after his meeting with Aso on Monday.
On Monday, the Japanese dailies Asahi and Yomiuri both showed support for Aso at around 20 percent, the lowest since he took office in September. President Lee Myung-bak's rating stands at around 23 percent.
Their summit also came at a time when Tokyo and Seoul have their eye on China's growing economic and diplomatic clout. Aso who brought some 20 Japanese business leaders, said he and Lee also wanted to bring new life to sputtering talks on a free trade deal, stalled by wrangling over tariffs.
In a sign of business co-operation, South Korea's POSCO said it was in talks with Toyota Motor Corp to supply steel to the world's top car company which is trying to cut costs as it heads for its first-ever annual operating loss. The two countries are each other's third-largest trading partners after China and the United States. Japan-South Korea trade totalled $81.4 billion in 2007, up 4.8 percent from the previous year, according to Japan's foreign ministry.
DESOLATE ISLETS AND NORTH KOREA: The two countries have a long-running feud over the islets, located about the same distance from both the shores of both, called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese. The rocky outcrops are situated near fertile fishing grounds and possible maritime deposits of potentially lucrative natural gas hydrate.
Aso said he and Lee did not discuss the troubled history or the island row but they were in agreement that the two will forge closer ties based on a clear understanding of the past. The leaders said they would work with US President-elect Barack Obama's administration to move forward stalled multilateral talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"I reaffirmed with the president the fundamental principal to make North Korea abandon its nuclear programmes through the six-way talks," Aso told the joint news conference. On Sunday, North Korea denounced Aso's visit, saying it was a sign of Lee's conservative government stepping up its hostility toward Pyongyang as it tried to curry favour with Tokyo.
Aso and Lee also discussed co-operating on aiding war-torn Afghanistan and on space technology. On Monday, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and South Korea's Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) signed a deal for the Japanese firm to launch the space agency's satellites.