The Seoul National University’ s Advanced Center for Administrative Development Alumni (SNU-ACADA) hosted this year’ s fourth breakfast forum on state affairs at the Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul on June 9 in which Japanese Ambassador to Korea Masatoshi Muto lectured. The forum was the latest part of SNU-ACADA’ s forum project inviting the ambassadors of the four global powers °™ the United States, Russia, Japan and China. Kim Byong-seob, dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University, SNU-ACADA President Lee Pil-woo, and SNU-ACADA alumnae from government, political, and business circles attended the forum. The following are excerpts of the Japanese ambassador’ s comments.

“It was in 1972 that I was first engaged in a job of relations between Korea and Japan as a diplomat at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. I was assigned as a minister at the Japanese Embassy in Korea twice °™ in 1993 and 2005 °™before being appointed Japanese ambassador to Korea in August 2010. It is not an exaggeration to say that I have been involved in almost all major pending issues between Korea and Japan ranging from the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympic Games, a watershed in amicable Korean-Japanese ties, to the North Korea nuclear issue, trade imbalance, and the Dokdo issue. The years I experienced were not just the history of Korea’ s development, but also that of improving Korean-Japanese ties. ”

Korea has seen its global standing soar for the 40 years since I began my career here. Korea has become a state attracting global attention, as the nation hosted the G20 Seoul Summit and the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit. And subsequently, Seoul and Tokyo have further improved their relations in global society. Peoples of both countries have reached a stage of knowing each other beyond their borders, but the Dokdo and comfort women’ s issues have still remained stumbling blocks to further improving ties. 

Unfortunately, economic and social uncertainties have spread all over the globe. The U.S. financial crisis, touched off by the failure of Lehman Brothers, and now the euro zone currency crisis, which is feared to be leading to a recession of emerging economies. Now is a time when with the advancement of globalization and international uncertainties have a direct impact on each country’ s domestic political issues. This is the reason why global spotlight is put on the elections slated for this year in such major countries such as the United States and China.   

The 21st century is referred to as the era of the Asia-Pacific. In this regard, collaboration among Asian countries has been growing more active than ever. Cooperative ties have been diverse like ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3, the East Asia Summit and relations among Korea, China, and Japan. 

The North Korean issue and the Taiwan Strait question still linger since the Cold War. An additional problem is that each country in East Asia is bent on expanding military power and modernization, riding on economic growth. 

China is striving to modernize its military power based on nuclear arms, missiles, and naval power. China’ s opaque military spending poses a threat to stability in the region. China is engaged in brisk naval activities in the seas near Korea and Japan while attempting to secure its own exclusive rights off the South China Sea, which Beijing declares as in its own essential interests. Russia is also overhauling its military power by capitalizing on a surge in natural resources prices. China and Russia’ s activities are feared to undermine peace and stability in East Asia, while North Korea, which owns weapons of mass destruction and tests intercontinental ballistic missiles, is a threat to the safety guarantee regime. 

Stability in East Asia is essential to Korea and Japan. The United States’ role is emphasized in the region. Korea, the United States, and Japan have to step up their collaboration. In particular, it is indispensable for Korea and Japan to strengthen their security cooperation. The ROK-Japan General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and the military Acquisition and Cross-Serving Agreement (ASSA) may form the basis of cooperation. Korea and Japan have political, economic and social structures in common, and they have similar growth patterns. The two countries have similarly achieved economic development through the government’ s initiatives and the nurturing of conglomerates, and make the most of gifted manpower to make up for scant resources on top of export-oriented, manufacturing-centered economies. 

Korea has managed to overcome the 1997 Asian financial crisis through severe restructuring. The nation has proactively pushed FTAs, introduced new systems, boosted exports to emerging economies and stepped up its national brand as part of its efforts to strengthen its national competitiveness, whereas Japan has failed to restructure in a timely manner. Japan is in a crisis with its dependence on high technological power, a delay in deregulation due to a lack of a sense of crisis, and an insufficient pushing of FTAs. But fortunately, Japan has managed to step up its economic stability by successfully staying away from a conglomerate-dominated economy and integrating banks. 

As it comes to bilateral ties, Korea and Japan have lots to learn from each other. Though Korea has followed Japan’ s footsteps, but managed to overcome the 1997 Asian financial crisis by departing from Japan’ s growth model. As a result, Japan has been left behind in changes, while Korea has become an example country.

Both countries show similarities in terms of per capita gross national income (GNI), a measurement of buying power. 

Korea and Japan have to proactively promote cooperation in plant and infrastructure fields. Figures released by the OECD indicate that the demand for developing infrastructure for the next 20 years is estimated at $71 trillion. Their strong and weak points are complementary for each other. 

The projected signing of a Korea-Japan FTA is forecast to have an effect of integrating the economies of both countries through the boosting of investment and certifying standards. It would not just lower tariffs of goods, but also pave the way for both countries to make joint efforts to explore overseas markets. They should overcome differences over political views and continue to further expand bilateral ties not only in the economic field, but also human and cultural exchanges.”

Regarding the Japanese ambassador's comment on Japanese territorial claim over Tokdo, a participant raised a question during a question-and-answer session, “Japan should relinquish territorial rights over the islets, as the Japanese emperor issued a statement annulling all treaties and documents signed between Japan and Korea on Aug. 15, 1945 when he surrendered following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” 

SNU-ACADA President  Lee presented a plaque of appreciation to the Japanese ambassador to Korea for promoting bilateral ties between Korea and Japan and gave a plaque of congratulation to the newly elected lawmakers, Joo Young-soon and Kim Jong-rok.