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Japan says no change to stance following impeachment of Park

Xinhua, December 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Japanese government said Friday that Japan's stance regarding ties with South Korea has not changed following the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-hye though analysts here have pointed out a number of impacts caused by political chaos in South Korea.

"The (impeachment motion) has just passed, so we will need to further observe how the situation turns out," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference shortly after the impeachment vote.

The chief cabinet secretary added that there would be no change to cooperation between the two countries in a range of fields.

South Korean parliament on Friday passed a bill to impeach scandal-scarred President Park, with 234 of the 300 members of the legislature voting in favor of the impeachment.

South Korea's Constitutional Court has 180 days to deliberate on the legitimacy of the impeachment vote against Park.

"How the Constitutional Court will rule is hard to figure out, but no matter how it rules, South Korea's disorder will continue for some time,"said Yoshiki Mine, former diplomat and representative of the Institute of Peaceful Diplomacy, in an earlier interview with Xinhua.

"Though the opposition parties agree on impeachment, they diverge on a lot of other issues. Besides, who is to become next president will also be a problem, as the situation changes too fast and none of the parties is fully prepared yet," said Mine.

Mine pointed out Japan is concerned about the negative influence caused by the political chaos in South Korea on the implementation of a deal on "comfort women" reached in 2015 between the two countries as well as a recently signed pact to share military intelligence.

A trilateral summit between China, Japan and South Korea expected to be held in December is also likely to be delayed, according to some analysts here including Kazuya Iwamura, editor from Kyodo News.

Suga, for his part, refrained from commenting on how the impeachment will affect plans to hold the trilateral summit before the end of the year.

"We are continuing to arrange this and nothing specific has been decided yet," Suga said. Enditem