Seoul searching: Asian leaders meet - The Economist

Photo: 

EPA

 

Seoul searching: Asian leaders meet

 

 The Economist, 3rd November, 2015

 

 

A thaw is under way in East Asia as the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea take turns at diplomatic chin-wagging in Seoul. Yesterday, at their first trilateral meeting since 2012, talks resumed on a stalled trade deal, among other things: the three countries recognise that festering historical and territorial grievances must not cause commercial ties to wither. Genial discussion on Saturday between China’s premier, Li Keqiang, and South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye, produced a flurry of economic deals—handy, as South Korean exports logged their steepest decline in six years in October. The pricklier meeting is today, between Ms Park and Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister—their first official bilateral. Ms Park is expected to press Mr Abe for an apology she has long demanded for the Korean women who were corralled into wartime sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese army. Do not expect a breakthrough—but at least the ice is melting.