Kerry confirms US-ROK alliance against DPRK, favors harmony with Japan

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) shakes hands with the ROK's foreign minister Yun Byung-Se (R) prior to their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul on May 18, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Touching on the frosty ties between the ROK and Japan for historical disputes, Kerry indirectly urged Seoul to mend ties with Tokyo, saying the historical issue should be dealt with in a direction of harmony and healing.

The ROK's President Park Geun-hye has refused, since her inauguration in February 2013, to sit down face-to-face with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, citing his wrong perception of history.

During his speech in late April to a joint session of the US Congress, Abe said he would "uphold" statements made by his predecessors for Japan's past brutalities, but he fell short of mentioning Japan's "colonial rule and aggression" and apologizing for wartime atrocities, triggering strong criticism from the ROK and China.

Abe stirred up an outrage from South Korean people by describing the "comfort women" as an act of "trafficking" of women by private agents, seeking to shirk the Japanese government's responsibility for abducting and raping the Korean women forced into sex slavery for the Japanese military brothels during World War II.

Regarding concerns about the revision of the US-Japan defense cooperation guideline, Kerry said that "nothing can be done" against the ROK when implementing the defense guidelines.

The guideline allowed Japan to operate its self-defense forces on the Korean Peninsula to assist American troops without advance consent from the ROK. Worries emerged that Japan may militarily intervene in the affairs on the peninsula as the US forces automatically participate in the matter under the US-ROK agreement.

Before the foreign ministers' talks, Kerry paid a courtesy call to President Park who is scheduled to visit Washington in mid-June for a summit meeting with US President Barack Obama.

Kerry will head back home later in the day after visiting the US military base in Seoul and delivering a lecture on cyber security at Korea University.