U.S. says its role limited in Korea-Japan ties

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― The U.S. government is keeping close tabs on the drawn-out political conflict between South Korea and Japan but it has no intention of acting openly to resolve the problem, the State Department said Friday.

The department reiterated a call for Seoul and Tokyo to “work together to resolve concerns over history in an amicable way through dialogue.”

The U.S. has been pushing for stronger trilateral cooperation with its two key regional allies in dealing with security issues.

But relations between the neighboring countries show no signs of improving.

Koreans have misgivings about Japan’s move to expand its military activity abroad, especially through the proposed re-interpretation of its post-war, pacifist constitution to exercise the right to collective self-defense.

It would allow Japan to use force against in any attack not only against its territory but also against “any country which is very close to Japan.”

Critics also accuse Japan’s Abe administration of trying to whitewash the country’s wartime past, including the brutal colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945.

Under Abe’s leadership, Japan has been at odds with South Korea and China over their shared history and contradictory territorial claims, although Tokyo has strengthened its alliance with Washington.

“We’re obviously watching it closely,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “And our role at this point is to continue to encourage all sides to concentrate on areas of cooperation and dialogue. Beyond that, I don’t have any prediction of an increased role.”

Meanwhile, concerns are growing in Korea that Washington may put more emphasis on the alliance with Tokyo than that with Seoul.

The Obama administration has publicly supported Japan’s push for collective self-defense despite worries among Koreans and Chinese.

A U.S. government official, however, dismissed such a view.

“It does not make sense to simply compare the U.S.-Korea alliance and the U.S.-Japan alliance. The U.S. and South Korea fought alongside each other (in the 1950-53 Korean War),” the official told Yonhap News Agency on the condition of anonymity.

“Japan is a whole different case.”