hankyoreh

WASHINGTON & TOKYO - Both Washington and Tokyo welcomed South Korea’s new conservative administration and expressed the expectation that their relations with Seoul will be strengthened in terms of the North Korean nuclear issue.

The U.S. administration of George W. Bush celebrated the appearance of a conservative government in Korea. At a regular briefing on December 19 (local time), U.S. State Department spokesperson Tom Casey said, “We have a long history of cooperation and friendship with South Korea, and we fully expect that will continue. With this new government, certainly we’ve got a number of important issues on our bilateral agenda, including our mutual cooperation at the six-party talks.”

The major presidential candidates, including President-elect Lee Myung-bak, have expressed their support for the six-nation talks, Casey said, adding, “For our part, I don’t think we expect to see any fundamental change in South Korea’s basic position with respect to the United States or with respect to the importance of the six-party talks.”

The U.S. media predicted that Lee, who has a pro-U.S. and pro-business stance, would take a more pragmatic approach to both inter-Korean and ROK-U.S. relations.

The New York Times reported that Lee, “a pro-business, pragmatic politician...would improve Seoul’s strained relations with Washington. As for North Korea, Mr. Lee has said that he will continue the policy of engaging it economically but that he will demand more concessions.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, Lee’s hard-line policy of linking assistance for North Korea with its nuclear issue are closer to U.S. policies than the engagement policies of Roh Moo-hyun’s administration.

The Japanese media on December 20 said that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will take part in Lee’s inauguration ceremony in February and resume shuttle diplomacy between the two nations, which was suspended in 2005 because of former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. As reported by the media, the Japanese government thinks it is necessary to establish trust between the two leaders as soon as possible, in order to resolve issues, such as the mutual recognition of the two nations’ shared history and North Korea.

A mood of optimism and cooperation seemed to pervade the top levels of government. Fukuda said that further development of friendly relations between the two countries is important for the stability and prosperity of both the region and the international community, adding that he would closely cooperate with South Korea’s new president. Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura mentioned Lee’s election pledge in connection with the importance of strengthening relations with the United States and Japan. An official of Japan’s foreign ministry said that the appearance of Lee, who makes realistic judgments as a former businessman, would likely improve Japan-Korea relations.

With respect to Lee’s position of not making concessions on matters such as historical recognition and the Dokdo islets, Tokyo is said to be watching carefully, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.

Lee demonstrated a will to improve bilateral relations during the campaign, but many observers say that he does not have personal connections with Japan, the Nihon Geizai Shimbun reported. Building connections with Japan should become a task for the new government, added the newspaper.