Resumed Discussions

[Anchor Lead]

US Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris met with Seoul's foreign and defense ministers on January 28th, as soon as the government shutdown in Washington ended. The ministers and Harris discussed the Korea-US defense cost sharing, and the Seoul-Tokyo conflict over a close-range Japanese flight controversy. It draws attention whether the US envoy can play a mediating role between Korea and Japan.

[Pkg]

U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris visited the Defense Ministry on January 28th and held closed-door talks with Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo for over an hour. Many bilateral issues were discussed but the two also exchanged views on the conflict between Korea and Japan involving a military radar dispute and a threatening flyby made by a Japanese patrol aircraft. Seoul's defense chief is known to have briefed the U.S. envoy on Korea's position and Japan's unjustified claims. Considering that Harris was a former Navy officer who led the U.S. Pacific Command, his meeting with the defense minister may well have extensively discussed the dispute over a Japanese plane making a low-altitude, close-range flight near a Korean warship. Washington has maintained a neutral stance until now saying the issue is to be resolved between Korea and Japan. But this may change and the U.S. could take on a mediating role. Ambassador Harris then met with Minister Kang Kyung-wha. A foreign ministry official said the two sides discussed mutual concerns including Korean Peninsula affairs and Seoul's share of the cost of stationing U.S. troops in Korea. The two sides are believed to have exchanged proposals to narrow differences in the ongoing defense cost sharing negotiations.