China News Network, March 3 According to a report by Yonhap News Agency on the 20th, after South Korean President Yoon Seok-yue's visit to Japan, when a relevant person from the ROK presidential office asked at a press conference on the same day whether the South Korean and Japanese heads of state talked about lifting restrictions on the import of Fukushima aquatic products, the person replied that it could not be made public.
The person reportedly said it was impossible to disclose exactly what the two leaders discussed during the talks. Regarding Japan's Sado Kanayama application, he also responded that in principle, the dialogue between the heads of state will not be made public. But he acknowledged that President Yoon Seok-yue had mentioned the import of aquatic products when he met with Japanese politicians and business people.
Data map: South Korean President Yoon Seok-yue.
On the issue of Fukushima seafood imports, the person said that the South Korean government's position is clear, that is, it will not tolerate the occurrence of situations that threaten the safety and health of South Korean citizens. The claim that it is scientifically safe needs to be proven, and the Korean people need to feel psychologically safe in order to actually move forward with import measures.
In addition, the person also reiterated that the ROK-Japan summit did not mention anything about the territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan and the comfort women issue. He said that after the summit meeting, there were groundless reports in the Japanese media, and the South Korean diplomatic department expressed regret to the Japanese side and asked that a similar situation not be repeated.
South Korean President Yoon Seok-hyeol (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) shake hands after a joint press conference in Tokyo on March 3.
Earlier, a Japanese media quoted Japanese officials as saying that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asked South Korea to earnestly implement the "Korea-Japan Comfort Women Agreement" at the South Korea-Japan summit meeting. As foreign minister, Kishida was responsible for negotiating comfort women with the government of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, but the Moon government revisited the agreement and turned it into a dead letter. The outlet also reported that Kishida said it would indeed address a number of outstanding issues, which official sources explained included territorial disputes between South Korea and Japan.
When a senior staff member of the South Korean presidential office was asked by the South Korean press corps about the comfort women, he did not confirm it, saying only that the topic of the day was mainly for the future development of South Korea-Japan relations. After the authenticity of the news sparked controversy, and after the comfort women and the territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan showed signs of re-fermentation, the presidential office issued a separate notice to deny it. The Korean presidential office did not use the words "proposed" or "discussed", but expressed it as a "discussion" in which the two sides exchanged views.