LEAD: Japan, S. Korea to deal with N. Korea with patience

Asian Economic News, Nov 13, 2000

TOKYO, Nov. 7 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH KONO-LEE MEETING)

The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea reconfirmed Monday that their countries would be patient in their efforts to improve bilateral ties with North Korea, Japanese officials said.

Yohei Kono of Japan and Lee Joung Binn of South Korea emphasized the importance of persevering in their negotiations to better their respective relations with Pyongyang and agreed not to be blown off course by delays to specific plans, the officials said.

The two ministers who met for three hours in Tokyo, also agreed on the importance of cooperation and coordination among Japan, South Korea and the United States on their respective relationships with North Korea, they said.

''The three tracks (for improvement in bilateral ties) must move on together for the attainment of peace and stability in the Northeast Asian region,'' Kono was quoted as telling Lee during a 90-minute banquet which followed a meeting of equal length.

Kono and Lee also discussed economic issues, agreeing to work on expanding Japanese investment in South Korea and to continue efforts to set up a business forum for two countries' private sectors to discuss the possibility of a bilateral free-trade agreement.

On the current shortage of seats on flights between Japan and South Korea, an issue raised by Seoul, Lee asked for ''aggressive efforts'' by Japan to work swiftly on improving air links between the capitals of the two countries, the officials said.

Kono suggested a two-step approach, in which in the short term Tokyo's Haneda airport, normally used for domestic flights, will host early-morning and late-night services, while planes will stop at Kansai airport in Osaka Prefecture between Seoul and Tokyo.

The second step will be a longer-term project to have a shuttle plane service linking the two capitals, the officials said. Kono told Lee all of the plans are being deliberated by the Japanese Transport Ministry.

Earlier, Lee, the foreign affairs and trade minister, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and relayed to him a message from President Kim Dae Jung underlining the importance of the two countries working with the U.S. in dealing with North Korea, the officials said.

In a separate meeting, Lee, who arrived in Japan on Monday for a two-day stay at the Foreign Ministry's invitation, asked Japan's tripartite ruling coalition to complete Diet deliberations on a bill to give permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local elections as soon as possible.

Lee made the proposal during a meeting with Hiromu Nonaka, Tetsuzo Fuyushiba and Takeshi Noda, the secretaries general of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the New Komeito party and the New Conservative Party (NCP), respectively, Japanese ruling coalition officials said.

Fuyushiba assured Lee that the local voting-right bill is next in line to be deliberated at the House of Representatives special committee, the officials said.

A bill to give permanent residents the local voting right is pending at the current extra Diet session, which is scheduled to end Dec. 1. The measure was jointly submitted by the New Komeito and the NCP, the coalition allies of the ruling LDP.

There are some 630,000 permanent foreign residents in Japan, most of them Koreans who were born in Japan. Attempts to grant permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local assembly, mayoral and gubernatorial elections have been killed twice.

Lee also expressed concern that the ongoing review of textbooks used at Japanese schools may modify or water down the part covering Japan's history of aggression in Asian countries, the officials said.

''History is not something that can be easily rewritten,'' Lee was quoted as saying.