CONTINUED CONFLICTS WITH JAPAN

[Anchor Lead]

Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Tae-ho told his Japanese counterpart at the bilateral civilian festival held in Seoul on Sunday, that maintaining the military intelligence sharing pact does not meet Korea's national interest. Both sides agreed that civilian exchanges must be continued, but saw that clear differences remained on pending issues.

[Pkg]

The 15th edition of the Hanmadang Festival, an annual Korea-Japan civilian cultural exchange event was held in Seoul. Despite the tense conflict between the two countries, Korean Foreign Vice Minister Lee Tae-ho and Japan's Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Norikazu Suzuki were at the scene. They met at the opening ceremony and exchanged their thoughts on key pending issues only to confirm that their positions still differed widely. Vice Minister Lee said that as Tokyo removed Seoul from its whitelist for security reasons, it does not meet Korea's national interest to maintain GSOMIA. Vice Minister Suzuki again delivered his country's position on the termination of that intel-sharing agreement and the Korean Supreme Court's recent ruling on Japan's compensation for the Koreans conscripted for forced labor during World War II. Both officials, nonetheless, agreed on the importance of continued diplomatic dialogues and civilian exchanges.

[Soundbite] LEE TAE-HO(VICE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS) : "I expect the two countries to resolve the issues in a more mature way, by negotiating through dialogue."

[Soundbite] NORIKAZU SUZUKI(JAPANESE VICE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS) : "The Japanese government plans to work together with Korea to drive civilian exchange projects."

The Korean and Japanese civilian sectors continue with their exchange programs, but the two countries still remain wide apart on their stances on the pending issues.