Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak vowed Monday to closely cooperate with the United States in solving world problems including North Korea's nuclear arms.
The two leaders made the commitment in a telephone conversation, hours before Aso left for a meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday, the Japanese foreign ministry said.
"The two leaders agreed anew that close cooperation among Japan, South Korea and the United States is important in tackling pending issues in the international community, including the world economy and the North Korean issue," the ministry said in a statement.
In a meeting in Seoul in mid-January, Aso and Lee vowed to develop a "future-oriented, mature partnership" — turning a page in ties strained by territorial disputes and lingering bitterness at Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.
Aso and Lee agreed to continue strengthening the partnership, the statement said.
Lee also said he hoped to visit Japan at an early date to reciprocate Aso's trip to South Korea, it added.
But Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said the two leaders did not touch on the long-standing bilateral territorial row over a set of islets in the Sea of Japan called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, according to Kyodo News. The two leaders also avoided the topic in Seoul.
Kawamura, the top government spokesman, said he hoped that the issue would examined by a joint project team, which was launched Monday, involving researchers from Japan and South Korea, according to Kyodo.
On Sunday, the South Korean foreign ministry protested to Japan over a Japanese prefecture's annual publicity event aimed at boosting Tokyo's claims to the disputed islets, which are administered by Seoul.
