Tokyo, Seoul eye more military cooperation
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Japan and South Korea aim to strengthen their peacetime military cooperation, Japanese media reported on Tuesday, as tensions remain high on the Korean peninsula.
The two governments will put the sensitive issue of security cooperation at the pillar of a joint statement they are considering issuing as early as this spring, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing sources close to Japan-South Korea relations.
A Japanese foreign ministry official dismissed the media reports, however, telling Reuters that they were groundless.
In the statement, the two countries will indicate their aim of reaching a security agreement allowing their militaries to support each other during peacekeeping and natural disaster missions abroad by providing supplies and services, the Yomiuri said.
The two governments will also seek an agreement on preventing military information leaks, the Yomiuri reported.
Japan has been aiming to strengthen its security cooperation with Seoul in addition to its ties with Washington, its closest ally, and South Korean military officers participated in a joint military exercise between Japan and the United States last month for the first time as observers.
But the Kyodo news agency said it was unclear if talks on defence cooperation would proceed smoothly, as these were Japanese proposals and diplomatic officials in Seoul were reluctant due to lingering resentment in South Korea of Japan's brutal 1910-45 colonisation of the peninsula.
In a sign of sensitivity over the topic, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara denied on Monday that he had expressed hopes for Tokyo to form a security alliance with Seoul in an interview with a South Korean daily.
