Bangkok, July 31: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he would support Washington’s two greatest Asian partners Japan and South Korea “to find a path forward” amidst intense diplomatic row, when he met with both nation’s foreign ministers in Bangkok this week.
Diplomatic tensions have been intensified since a South Korean Supreme Court ordered last year Japanese firms to compensate Koreans who were forced to work for Japan’s occupiers during World War II.
In an apparent retaliation on July 4, Japan imposed a high restriction on exports of high-tech tools to South Korea but rebuffed the action was anything related to the compensation issue.
In Washington, a US authority said the United States has encouraged the two countries to consider marking a “standstill agreement” on their spat to purchase time for them to arrange, according to Reuters news reports.
Pompeo was due to hold a meeting with foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea, independently, and afterward in a three-manner discussion on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum in Bangkok, Thailand.
“We will encourage them to find a path forward,” Pompeo told reporters on Tuesday aboard the plane enroute for Bangkok.
“They’re both great partners of ours. They’re both working closely with us on our effort to denuclearize North Korea. So if we can help them find a good place for each of the two countries we’ll certainly find that important for the United States.”
When asked about the state secretary’s remarks, Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga stated Tokyo was long trying to convey its thoughts and stance over several issues to the US.
“We are closely cooperating with the U.S. We will make efforts to gain correct understanding,” he told a news conference.
He said he was aware of reports by media over the “standstill agreement” but stated there was “no such fact”.
“The relationship between Japan and South Korea has been in a very severe situation because of negative actions by South Korea,” he added.
“There is no change to our stance that we continue to urge South Korea to take constructive actions based on our consistent stance over various issues.”
However, Seoul has dismissed the third-country arbitration with Kono stating South Korea must take some swift actions to correct what Tokyo says was an unacceptable ruling of last year by Seoul’s Supreme Court ordering two Japan’s companies to compensate the wartime workers.
Japan was considering to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against South Korea over a dispute of forced labour.
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