A former senior U.S. diplomat for Asia expressed concern Friday that strained ties between Washington’s two East Asian allies — Japan and South Korea — are hurting American national interests.
Kurt Campbell, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told an event in Washington that the U.S. government should make clear that “this ongoing set of affairs is hurting the United States, hurting our role in Asia.”
Campbell suggested the absence of close U.S. involvement had contributed to the soured relations between Tokyo and Seoul that stem from differences over Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before and during World War II.
“(The United States) can’t rebalance, can’t pivot without mending this,” Campbell said, referring to the tag lines of President
Barack Obama’s policy of focusing on the Asia-Pacific region — “Rebalance to Asia” and “Pivot to Asia.”
Campbell, who heads the Center for a New American Security think tank, called on the U.S. government to enhance its efforts from “mediation” to a level that can be described as “facilitation” to help Japan and South Korea mend fences.
He also questioned the attitude of both Japan and South Korea, pointing to their lack of efforts to reactivate dialogue and improve relations.
“You have a South Korean leader saying I will meet at any time” not with the Japanese leader but the North Korean leader, and Japanese diplomats who only say they are “exhausted” by their South Korean counterparts, Campbell said.
Campbell did not mention the issue of so-called comfort women, including those from the peninsula, who were forced to work at wartime Japanese brothels.
Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe and South Korean President
Park Geun Hye have failed to meet one-on-one since they took office in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Obama brokered a trilateral meeting with Abe and Park a year ago in The Hague hoping to encourage the Japanese and South Korean leaders to seek a summit, but has yet to see an effect.
During the event at the American Enterprise Institute, Campbell urged South Korea to boost public debates on cooperation with Japan in terms of such issues as national security, saying it was “profoundly unhealthy” that officials often hesitate to do so.
“In a democracy, your population has to know what your country’s involved in and engaged with in terms of its foreign policy, national security and intelligence operations,” Campbell said.
==Kyodo
Category: Daily Witness, National
