Ministers Moon, Aso to Meet in Doha

Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Aso will arrange a meeting with his Korean counterpart at the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) slated for May 23 and 24 in Doha, Qatar, according to a Yomiuri Daily report on Monday.

The paper reported that if talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon are arranged, Aso will focus the discussion on visits to the Yasukuni Shrine and the Dokdo islets and ask for stronger solidarity to resolve the issue of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens. The two ministers have not met for more than five months since the ASEAN+3 (Korea, China, and Japan) foreign ministers meeting in Malaysia last December.

Meanwhile, bilateral negotiations on the exclusive economic zone line initially scheduled for this month will be postponed to June, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The Japanese government believes that Korea would otherwise come to the negotiating table with a hard line stance, mindful of the local elections on May 31.

Kwang-Am Cheon iam@donga.com