The Daily Manila Shimbun

 

Nikai, Abeʼs special envoy, meets S. Korean Pres. Moon

June 12, 2017

SEOUL- Japanese ruling party executive Toshihiro Nikai, acting as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's special envoy, visited South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday, to lay the groundwork for an Abe-Moon summit expected to take place early next month.Before the meeting at the Blue House presidential office, Nikai, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, held talks with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon.

Moon's handling of a landmark bilateral accord in 2015 on the issue of former "comfort women" in South Korea, who were forced to sexually serve Japanese troops before and during World War II, is being closely watched ahead of the summit with Abe.
After he was inaugurated last month, Moon told Abe in their telephone talks that the reality is that many South Koreans cannot emotionally accept the comfort women deal, designed to "finally and irreversibly" resolve the thorny issue.
Earlier on Monday, Nikai also held talks with Choo Mi-ae, leader of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party.
At their meeting in Seoul, Nikai told Choo, leader of the Democratic Party, that close communications between the two countries' leaders are very important for building such bilateral relations.
Referring to the upcoming first meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and new South Korean President Moon Jae-in, planned for early July in Germany on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit, Nikai said that he would welcome a Moon visit to Japan to join a possible trilateral summit of the two countries plus China.
Choo said that there were many misunderstandings and conflicts between South Korea and Japan when Park Geun-hye was in office as South Korea's president.
The two countries should correct what should be corrected as they try to establish a forward-looking relationship, she stressed, adding that they also need to sort out the gap between their views of history at an early time. (Jiji Press)

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