Roundup: Japan to respect S. Korea's sovereignty when exercising self-defense right

Japan pledged on Tuesday to respect South Korea's sovereignty when exercising its right to collective self-defense, which is expected to be materialized after the revision of defense cooperation guideline between Tokyo and Washington slated for later this month.

The pledge came during the first security dialogue in about five years between South Korea and Japan, which was held earlier in the day at the South Korean Foreign Ministry's headquarters in Seoul.

A South Korean Foreign Ministry official was quoted by local media as saying that the Japanese delegation said it would conduct defense and security activities in the region while respecting South Korea's sovereignty.

Japan vowed, during the dialogue, to push for the process of revising the defense cooperation guideline between Japan and the United States and Japan's security-related laws in a transparent manner and in accordance with the spirit of its peace constitution.

The "two-plus-two" dialogue was first held in 1998, a year after foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan agreed to such talks. Amid frayed ties caused by historical and territorial disputes, the dialogue has been halted for about five years before the 10th round was held Tuesday. The 9th round was held in December 2009.

Lee Sang-deok, chief of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau, led the South Korean delegation, while Junichi Ihara, chief of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, headed the Tokyo delegation. Deputy director-general-level officials from defense ministries of both countries joined the meeting.

The dialogue came amid rising concerns about the scheduled revision of the defense cooperation guideline between Tokyo and Washington in late April, which would allow Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense.

It may mean that Japanese forces could be sent to the Korean Peninsula in the event of contingencies to help the U.S. forces in South Korea.

About 28,500 U.S. soldiers are stationed here to help deter provocations from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

During the security talks, the South Korean delegation explained its great interest in the revised guideline for U.S.- Japan defense cooperation and Japan's would-be-revised security laws, caused by Japan's change in interpretation of its peace constitution on July 1, 2014.

The South Korean side asked its Japanese counterpart to explain the changed position on the issues within Japan, and the Japanese side provided detailed explanations to the South Korean delegation.

The South Korean side stressed the importance of the transparent revision of those laws and guidelines to relieve doubts and worries from neighboring countries, to contribute to regional peace and stability and to maintain the spirit of Japan' s peace constitution.

Asked about whether South Korea called on Japan to get approval from Seoul in advance of the exercise of self-defense right on the Korean Peninsula, the South Korean official said that it would be discussed during the trilateral security talks scheduled for Thursday to Friday in Washington.

The Japanese side repeatedly proposed to South Korea holding the bilateral defense ministers'talks at an earliest date, but Seoul said that it will cautiously decide on the issue after considering overall situations.

During the dialogue, both sides did not discuss the ongoing historical and territorial disputes, a legacy of Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, as the talks were about defense and security issues.

The already frayed ties between Seoul and Tokyo worsened further after Japan approved 18 textbooks last week for middle school students, which distorted history and laid territorial claims to Dokdo islets, called Takeshima in Japan, that lie halfway between the two nations.

Japan has claimed that the rocky outcroppings have been illegally occupied by South Korea, but Seoul said that the islets were the first victim of Japan's imperialistic occupation of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.

South Korea has adhered to the so-called"two-track"strategy, which means a stern response to Japan's territorial claims and history distortion, while maintaining cooperation with Japan over issues of mutual benefit like defense and economy. Endi