South Korea and Japan on Thursday reaffirmed their efforts to promote practical cooperation in the area of mutual interest and improve their fraught relationship, amid U.S. moves to foster reconciliation between its two allies.

South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki agreed on the need to pursue “future-oriented cooperation,” despite their historical and territorial feuds, during a trilateral meeting in Washington that included U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

The unprecedented meeting touched on a wide range of regional and global issues, including North Korea’s evolving missile and nuclear threats, climate change, maritime security and global health security. It was hosted by Washington, which is seeking to promote trilateral cooperation between the three countries. 

Cho hinted at the talks that Seoul would exert more flexibility in bilateral cooperation with Tokyo. But he reiterated that Seoul’s stern stance over historical issues would remain unchanged. Bilateral relations have worsened due to Japan’s failure to fully atone for its wartime atrocities.

“My government’s policy on Korea-Japan relations is that on the one hand, we are maintaining a consistent, principled position and stance on the issues of history, and that will continue to be the case,” said Cho during a joint press conference.

“On the other hand, we are promoting cooperation between Korea and Japan on other issues, including North Korean issues and other issues where cooperation is necessary and beneficial to both governments.”

The three-way meeting came as Washington was seen seeking to defuse historical tensions between Seoul and Tokyo and encouraging the countries to enhance three-way cooperation to tackle North Korea’s nuclear threats and other challenges.

The meeting was held prior to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the U.S., where he will deliver a speech at a joint session at U.S. Congress later this month. South Korean President Park Geun-hye is expected to visit the U.S. possibly in June.

Touching on the long-running historical enmity between America’s allies, Blinken said a shared perspective on the challenges facing South Korea and Japan “far outweighs” their historical differences.

“When you look at everything we talked about today, when you look at the work that our countries are doing together bilaterally, trilaterally, and all of the different configurations, there is a common agenda, a common approach, common interests, and common values,” he said.

“That’s what unites us and that’s what will continue to unite us going forward.”

Regarding bilateral history issues, the Japanese vice minister argued that Japan acknowledges history “squarely” and the responsibility rests on both countries to improve bilateral relations.

“Both sides are responsible for making the relationship better, and Japan, for its part, will continue to make efforts to improve the relationship with its Korean friends. And I’m hoping that our Korean friends are also going to do the same thing with us,” he said.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)