S. Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-hwa met her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono in Beijing just 20 days after their meeting at the ASEAN forum in Taiwan. Through the meeting, the top diplomats could not come up with a concrete solution to the ongoing bilateral conflict.
Kang and Kono have sat face-to-face on the sideline of the trilateral foreign ministerial meeting between South Korea, China, and Japan. But instead of finding ways to mend the ties, both sides were busy stressing their points regarding the issues of forced labor ruling and trade curbs to each other.
Having failed to use the occasion to produce any tangible solution, South Korea and Japan are getting into a crucial week. Each side will have to make important decisions regarding the extension of GSOMIA and whitelist operation.The focus now shifts on whether the two countries could find ways to alleviate the tensions during the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York, and ASEAN+3 summit in Thailand.
This episode, we talk in-depth with experts from in and out of Korea about ways the two countries can find a breakthrough to the stiffened bilateral ties.