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President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Monday agreed to build a new era in bilateral relations and a mature partnership based on pragmatic diplomacy. The contents of the agreement encompass almost all areas of bilateral relations, from the June opening of working-level talks for a free trade agreement, expanding employment and tourist visas between the two countries and strengthening economic cooperation to resolve Korea¡¯s trade deficit with Japan. Shuttle diplomacy, which involved regular summits between the two leaders halted since June 2005, will resume, with the Japanese leader visiting Korea in the second half of this year and President Lee attending the expanded G-8 summit in Japan this July.
The agreement reached between the two leaders contains the goals the two countries must achieve together and the means they need to employ to meet those objectives. Unlike the previous Korean administration, which was held in the shackles of history, the Lee administration seeks to look to the future in bilateral relations. The fact that the two countries agreed to double the number of beneficiaries of employment and tourist visa programs to 7,200 next year and to expand the exchange of students by 1,500 aims toward the future. When they met during President Lee¡¯s inauguration ceremony on Feb. 25, the two leaders already agreed to cooperate in developing a future-oriented relationship. On April 1, the Japanese government said in the 2008 edition of its Diplomatic Blue Book that Seoul and Tokyo have ¡°opened a new era.¡±
There are unfortunate incidents in our shared history, but the conditions to become good neighbors have been set with a pragmatic administration taking office in Korea and with the hard-right Koizumi and Abe administrations leaving office in Japan. It is no coincidence that both sides are saying the present set of conditions represents a golden opportunity. Korea did not raise the issue of past history during the summit, while Japan reaffirmed its position that the issue of its abducted citizens should not become an obstacle to progress in six-country nuclear talks. These developments are examples of pragmatic bilateral relations.
But it will take more time and effort for both countries to truly head toward the future. There are still fresh memories of Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who forged friendly relations with Japan early on in their administrations which then soured due to comments by Japanese officials glorifying Japan¡¯s wartime past, the Dokdo issue and visits by Japanese officials to the Yasukuni shrine. As both countries pursue their national interests on the diplomatic stage, there will be issues that lead to heightened emotions and heated debate. But the first step into a new era in Korea-Japan relations is to ensure that words are not uttered and actions are not committed that can dislodge the ultimate foundation of mutual trust.
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