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SEOUL South Korea demanded Thursday that Japan discipline its No. 2 diplomat for reportedly saying that his government could not share intelligence on North Korea because Washington no longer trusts Seoul.
The reported comments, made by Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi of Japan to a group of South Korean lawmakers in Tokyo on May 11, were revealed this week in Seoul, triggering a diplomatic flap that has pushed South Korea's already uncomfortable relations with Japan to a new low. The South Korean Foreign Ministry called in the Japanese ambassador, Toshiyuki Takano, and demanded an apology on Thursday. South Korea warned that bilateral relations could be "seriously affected" barring appropriate actions.
According to South Korean politicians, Yachi said: "Since the United States does not have sufficient trust in South Korea, Japan finds it a problem to share information it has received from Washington with South Korea." He also reportedly said: "The United States and Japan stand to the right, and China and North Korea to the left. South Korea appears to be moving from the center to the left."
Yachi's comments illuminated the growing uneasiness between South Korea and its two main allies: the United States and Japan. Although the three allies publicly deny any friction, experts noted, and Seoul officials acknowledge to a certain degree, that South Korea is going through a major and often contentious reshaping of its relations with Japan and the United States on key issues like North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Japan's colonial past and Seoul's military ties with Washington.
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