DELEGATION TO ATTEND ABE'S FUNERAL

[Anchor Lead]

The South Korean government has decided to dispatch a higher-rank delegation to former Japanese PM Abe's funeral compared to the past. All eyes are on whether the so-called "mourning diplomacy" will help improve relations between Korea and Japan as high-level bilateral exchanges remain suspended.

[Pkg]

In the past, when former Japanese prime ministers passed away, a family funeral was held three days later. A month later, a memorial service was organized by the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The funeral of the deceased former PM Shinzo Abe will likely be held in the same order. The South Korean government has decided to dispatch PM Han Duck-soo as a member of a mourning delegation. Unlike in the past, when similar delegations were headed by the minister of foreign affairs or the Korean ambassador to Japan, this time a higher-ranking official will be dispatched.

[Soundbite] Park Jin(Foreign Minister) : "We will compose a mourning delegation with the highest respect."

In the past two weeks the leaders and foreign ministers of the two nations met face to face at multilateral meetings, but no bilateral talks took place. The unscheduled dispatch of the PM delegation will set the stage for high-level exchanges. It could serve as a momentum for resuming bilateral exchanges. Ties between Korea and Japan deteriorated in 2006 over maritime surveys near the Dokdo islets. At the time, then-foreign minister Ban Ki-moon attended the funeral of former Japanese PM Ryutaro Hashimoto. Ban was lauded for resuming communication between the two countries. Following its landslide victory in the upper house election, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party has vowed to push ahead with constitutional amendment, a part of Abe's legacy. With past issues still unresolved between Seoul and Tokyo, pundits say expecting immediate results would be proven difficult.

[Soundbite] Prof. Cho Yang-hyun(Korea Nat’l Diplomatic Academy) : "Japan will likely welcome a mourning delegation, but it's not enough for Tokyo to start improving relations, because past issues remain unresolved."

On Monday, Foreign Minister Park Jin and National Assembly speaker Kim Jin-pyo visited Abe's altar. On Tuesday, President Yoon is visited an altar at the Japanese embassy to Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was visiting Thailand, has changed his schedule and headed to Tokyo to meet with Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and deliver President Biden's letter to Abe's bereaved family.