Japan and South Korea agreed at high-level talks Wednesday on the importance of coordinating on North Korea, but reconciliation appeared as elusive as ever as each stuck to its positions on thorny issues related to their shared history.
Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki and his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae Yong apparently did not discuss in any detail the prospects of Japan and South Korea holding a trilateral summit with the United States later this month, when their leaders will attend an international conference on nuclear security in the Netherlands.
Wednesday's talks were the most prominent since Abe's controversial Dec. 26 visit to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A war criminals along with Japan's war dead. The last time the vice foreign ministers met was in July.