President-elect Park Geun-hye plans to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s special envoys on Jan. 4, her spokesperson said Friday.
The meeting comes in response to Tokyo’s official request delivered to her by Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koro Bessho on Dec. 20, Cho Yoon-sun said, adding that Park sent a reply to the prime minister’s congratulatory letter on Thursday.
Abe’s four-member delegation led by former Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga sought to see her last weekend in an apparent attempt to warm up ties frayed by territorial and historical brawls. Three other planned visitors were senior members of the Japan-South Korea parliamentarians’ association.
But the president-elect turned it down because of a heavy schedule, suggesting a rearrangement after Abe’s official inauguration on Wednesday.
The two countries’ relations have soured on the back of Japan’s claim over Korea’s islets of Dokdo, falsified historical facts in school textbooks and failures to apologize for atrocities during its 1910-1945 colonial rule.
Further stoking concerns around the region is Tokyo’s swing to the right and Abe’s controversial selection of hawkish members in his newly established Cabinet.
By Shin Hyon-hee
(
heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
