Politic-Economic-Society-Tech
Seoul drops military exchanges with Japan
The Defense Ministry announced yesterday that it decided to cancel a planned visit to Japan by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) scheduled for the middle of this month.
The ministry also decided to revoke permission for two Japanese ships to make port calls at Incheon scheduled for early September as part of the two countries' military vessels exchange program.
The action is part of the Seoul government's countermeasures to Japan's recent refusal to rewrite its history textbooks.
"We made the decision as part of our action against Japan's refusal, as we firmly believe that South Korean-Japanese military exchanges should be promoted based on a correct understanding of history, mutual trust and public support," said Brig. Gen. Chang Gwang-il, deputy director-general of the ministry's Policy Planning Bureau.
Chang said the two nations' exchanges of high-ranking military personnel and military vessels will be kept on hold until the Tokyo government rectifies distortions in its middle school history textbooks that South Korea and other Asian countries believe whitewash its past atrocities.
"In the South Korea-Japan military cooperation field, the exchange visits of military vessels has a symbolic meaning," Chang said.
Two Japanese ships, a 4,050-ton training vessel and a 3,500-ton escort ship, both part of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, are set to make a port visit to Incheon Sept. 2-5, Chang said. The vessels, which left Japanese ports April 20, are on a training mission to 13 Asian countries, he said.
In early May, the ministry also called off a joint maritime search and rescue exercise with Japan that was scheduled for early June to pressure the Japanese government to revise the controversial history textbooks.
At that time, it postponed a planned visit by the Japanese minister of state and director-general of the Japanese Defense Agency to Seoul.
By Kang Seok-jae Staff reporter
source: Korea Herald, July 13, 2001
