Landmark Japan-South Korea Deal Backs Obama’s Asia Rebalance

TODAY

30 December 2015

The United States has hailed Monday’s agreement reached by Japan and South Korea on the long-standing issue of Korean women forced to work in Japan’s wartime military brothels, and analysts say the deal could lead to increased economic and military cooperation between the US allies to complement Washington’s efforts to counter China’s rise and North Korea’s nuclear sabre-rattling.

“The United States applauds the leaders of the ROK (Republic of Korea) and Japan, two of our most important allies, for having the courage and vision to forge a lasting settlement to this difficult issue,” said US National Security Adviser Susan Rice in a statement. “We look forward to … advancing trilateral security cooperation.” US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a separate statement: “We call on the international community to support it (the deal).”

Analysts say the agreement, which removed one of the intractable logjams in relations between South Korea and Japan, may help revive talks on intelligence sharing between the two North-east Asian countries that had been backed by the US. Negotiations were suspended in 2012, the same year that Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power.

… “Ultimately, this deal looks to be the result of geopolitical considerations rather than a genuine attempt at resolving a painful and tragic past,” Mr Harry Sa, research analyst at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told TODAY.

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