It was extraordinary to see two national leaders having a hard time putting a face on a two-hour-long summit meeting that apparently did not produce any substantive agreement. At an internationally televised press conference following the summit in Seoul on Monday, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said: "We have reached an agreement at a minuscule level with regard to the history issue." But he promptly added that the consensus was a result of prior diplomatic contacts between the two countries rather than the summit itself.
This means that despite their allegedly long, serious and frank exchange of views Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Mr. Roh failed to see eye to eye with each other on what must be done, or not be done, to improve the current tense relations. Obstacles to reaching more than a minuscule-level accord, Mr. Roh said, were contentious history issues, specifically, Mr. Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine -- where Japan's World War II war criminals are enshrined with the nation's war dead -- and sanitized history textbooks.
According to reports, Mr. Roh carefully chose his words in telling Mr. Koizumi that he should stop paying homage to the war dead at Yasukuni because Mr. Koizumi's visits to the shrine are the core issue in the history-related conflict between the two countries. Mr. Koizumi responded by repeating his stance that his visits are intended to show his resolve that Japan will never wage war again.