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Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Monday that it had no plans to seek a bilateral military logistical support deal with Tokyo, dismissing a news report that the defense ministers of the two countries would discuss the issue next month.
“We have not been in any talks with Japan over the signing of the acquisition and cross-servicing agreement and have no plans whatsoever for any bilateral discussion of it,” said ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok during a press briefing.
Japanese media reported Sunday that Tokyo would ask Seoul to sign the ACSA to allow the two militaries to offer logistical support to each other ― when the need arises ― during the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security forum in Singapore in May.
Kim recognized the need for logistical support between the two militaries, touching on the 2013 case in which a South Korean military contingent in South Sudan received ammunition from Japan’s contingent via the U.N.
The case stirred an intense controversy here as many South Koreans are against any military cooperation with Japan, their country’s onetime colonizer that has not fully atoned for its wartime atrocities including the sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II.
“From time to time, our peacekeeping forces need logistical support (from Japanese forces),” Kim said. “But we are not pursuing any military cooperation deal with Japan due to various issues between the two countries.”
During the Shangri-La Dialogue, the defense ministers of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are likely to hold a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the forum as they have done so for the past several years. But it remains to be seen whether the defense ministers of Korea and Japan will hold a bilateral meeting.
Seoul has been cautious about its military cooperation and exchanges with Tokyo, as public sentiment has worsened against Japan.
From South Korea’s perspective, Japan has sought to whitewash its past wrongdoings and distort historical facts in school textbooks. Tokyo’s stepped-up claim to South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo has also worsened the anti-Japanese sentiment here.
By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)
“We have not been in any talks with Japan over the signing of the acquisition and cross-servicing agreement and have no plans whatsoever for any bilateral discussion of it,” said ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok during a press briefing.
Japanese media reported Sunday that Tokyo would ask Seoul to sign the ACSA to allow the two militaries to offer logistical support to each other ― when the need arises ― during the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security forum in Singapore in May.
Kim recognized the need for logistical support between the two militaries, touching on the 2013 case in which a South Korean military contingent in South Sudan received ammunition from Japan’s contingent via the U.N.
The case stirred an intense controversy here as many South Koreans are against any military cooperation with Japan, their country’s onetime colonizer that has not fully atoned for its wartime atrocities including the sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II.
“From time to time, our peacekeeping forces need logistical support (from Japanese forces),” Kim said. “But we are not pursuing any military cooperation deal with Japan due to various issues between the two countries.”
During the Shangri-La Dialogue, the defense ministers of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are likely to hold a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the forum as they have done so for the past several years. But it remains to be seen whether the defense ministers of Korea and Japan will hold a bilateral meeting.
Seoul has been cautious about its military cooperation and exchanges with Tokyo, as public sentiment has worsened against Japan.
From South Korea’s perspective, Japan has sought to whitewash its past wrongdoings and distort historical facts in school textbooks. Tokyo’s stepped-up claim to South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo has also worsened the anti-Japanese sentiment here.
By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)
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Articles by Korea Herald
