Most Popular
-
1
Actor Jung Woo-sung admits to being father of model Moon Ga-bi’s child
-
2
Wealthy parents ditch Korean passports to get kids into international school
-
3
Man convicted after binge eating to avoid military service
-
4
First snow to fall in Seoul on Wednesday
-
5
Final push to forge UN treaty on plastic pollution set to begin in Busan
-
6
Korea to hold own memorial for forced labor victims, boycotting Japan’s
-
7
Nvidia CEO signals Samsung’s imminent shipment of AI chips
-
8
Job creation lowest on record among under-30s
-
9
NK troops disguised as 'indigenous' people in Far East for combat against Ukraine: report
-
10
Opposition leader awaits perjury trial ruling
S. Korea seeks more assurance in new U.S.-Japan defense rules
By KH디지털2Published : April 28, 2015 - 10:42
South Korea urged the United States and Japan Tuesday to assure the security of South Korea in implementing the U.S-Japan defense guidelines, which expand Japan's military role abroad against possible threats from China and North Korea.
"The government expects the U.S. and Japan to continue close consultations with South Korea on issues related to the security of the Korean Peninsula and our national interests," Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il said in a statement.
He was responding to a deal made at a New York meeting of the foreign and defense ministers from the U.S. and Japan on Monday. Wrapping up years of negotiations, the two sides signed defense guidelines that allow Japan's self-defense forces to expand activities abroad.
It would enable Japan to use military force to help the U.S. and other allies if they come under attack.
South Korea is concerned about any Japanese military presence on the Korean Peninsula to help U.S. forces should there be a North Korean provocation, without Seoul's consent. South Korea still has bitter memories of Japan's colonization of Korea from 1910-1945.
Seoul expressed support for the agreement itself, saying it clarifies "full respect" for a third country's sovereignty when Tokyo exercises the right to "collective self-defense."
The deal came as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe embarked on a weeklong trip to the U.S. He is scheduled to hold summit talks with President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday (local time), followed by a speech at a joint session of Congress a day later.
The revised defense rules show the Washington-Tokyo alliance has entered a new stage, while Seoul-Tokyo ties remain mired in territorial and historical disputes.
South Korean officials acknowledge the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance in regional security, but they have doubts over Abe's view of history. There is widespread speculation that the conservative leader may be drawing Japan back to its militaristic past.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Seoul and Tokyo are not competing against each other in terms of their alliances with Washington.
"The South Korea-U.S. alliance and the U.S.-Japan alliance are not a zero-sum game," he told reporters earlier this month. "The two are mutually beneficial when it comes to regional security."
Experts here, however, voiced concern that South Korea may be marginalized. (Yonhap)
