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              US: Japan, South Korea Should 'Quickly' Improve Ties

   by VOA News

   The U.S. is urging Japan and South Korea to improve strained relations,
   which Washington fears may threaten an important Asian security
   alliance.
   Danny Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, called on both
   countries to "show prudence and restraint in dealing with difficult
   historical issues."
   Relations between the two U.S. allies have plummeted over what Seoul
   considers Tokyo's unapologetic stance toward Japan's imperialist past.
   Russel told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that it is a U.S. "diplomatic
   priority" for the tensions "to be reduced, and be reduced quickly."
   He said both countries share many of the same challenges, including
   North Korea and its nuclear weapons program and other "regional
   uncertainties."
   This week, Japan announced it will review evidence that led to a 1993
   apology over forced prostitution of Asian women in Japanese wartime
   brothels.
   South Korean President Park Geun-hye has said that Tokyo will only
   experience isolation if it revises the apology for the so-called
   comfort women.
   As many as 200,000 Asian women, mainly South Koreans, were forced to
   serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
   Seoul also responded angrily to a visit last year by Japanese Prime
   Minister Shinzo Abe to a Tokyo shrine that honors several war criminals
   among other war dead.
   Senator Ben Cardin, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's
   East Asia subcommittee, said Abe's "rhetoric on these issues is
   increasingly concerning to many."
   Cardin said China appears to be "trying to increase the wedge" between
   Japan and South Korea and wants to establish a closer relationship with
   Seoul "to the detriment of Japan."
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   e-ties/1864388.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-japan-skorea-should-quickly-improve-ties/1864388.html