Description
The hectic week in New York is slowly starting to wind down.President Moon Jae-in opted against criticizing Japan on the international stage... despite Tokyo's unprecedented trade curbs on South Korea.However, the same could not be said for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.He was more willing to use his trip to the UN to bash Seoul and blame the South Korean government for the souring relations between the two countries.Lee Ji-won reports.Japan's efforts to blame South Korea for their current disputes continued even at the UN General Assembly in New York.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took every opportunity to criticize Seoul for their frosty ties, including at a press conference he held on Wednesday.When an Italian reporter asked Abe on the worsening Seoul-Tokyo ties,... the Japanese PM went on for nearly 3 minutes to explain Tokyo's stance on almost every single point of contention.South Korea isn't making any moves on its violation of the 1965 Seoul-Tokyo agreement,... and is continuing to take actions that harm the trust between the two sides."Abe reiterated that the forced labor ruling, where Seoul's Supreme Court ordered Japanese firms to compensate Koreans forced to work for them during Japan's colonial rule, has nothing to do with its trade curbs on Seoul.He then explained how its trade restrictions perfectly follow the orders of free trade and the World Trade Organization, adding that when safety and security are proven, exports are given the greenlight and that such measures do not affect trade with other countries.Japan imposed trade restrictions on Korea in July and August, initially citing "broken down trust between the two sides",... but later changing the explanation to "unspecified security reasons."The Japanese Prime Minister also used the UN stage to express regret over Seoul's decision to end its military-information sharing pact with Japan, saying that their worsening ties should not affect security interests.Abe is also reported to have reiterated these stances at his bilateral summit with U.S. President Trump.Now, while Abe was trying to rally world opinion against Seoul,... the top diplomats of both sides met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Thursday.It was the first time for Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha to meet her newly appointed counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi.The two met for around 50 minutes,... 20 minutes longer than initially scheduled.And it's also reported that 40 minutes of the talks happened between just the translators and the ministers, at the request of Japan.While no real progress was made on the major issues,... Minister Kang told reporters that both sides agreed that close cooperation is needed on issues like North Korea's denuclearization and that the two sides should continue such open-minded talks and work towards the future.Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.