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Compromise Sought in Sea Standoff(Korea Times Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)By Park Song-wu South Korea and Japan held a high-level consultation meeting in Seoul on Friday to find a diplomatic way out of the standoff over Tokyo's attempts to conduct surveys in the waters near Dokdo, South Korea's easternmost islets. But both sides said ``no progress'' was made during their first encounter. ``We talked about our position and the Japanese side talked about its position,'' Yu Myung-hwan, vice minister of foreign affairs and trade, told reporters. ``We need to talk more in a frank manner because we have very different positions.'' Japan's Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Shotaro Yachi described the atmosphere of the meeting as ``intense'' and said the two sides will continue to talk. He is scheduled to return to Tokyo on Saturday after holding another round of consultations. The meeting was considered a turning point toward reaching a compromise. Seoul has called for Tokyo to scrap a maritime survey plan in the East Sea and Tokyo for Seoul to drop a plan to name a seabed near Dokdo in Korean. The high-level talks came as Japan's two survey ships were anchored just off Sakai port in Japan's southwestern Tottori Prefecture for a third day. Accepting Seoul's demand, Tokyo agreed to temporarily suspend the oceanographic survey plan while diplomatic dialogue is underway. During the consultation, Yachi demanded Seoul scrap its plan to submit a proposal to use a Korean name for the ocean floor near Dokdo during an international oceanographic conference in Germany in June. The seabed has been called ``Tsushima'' in Japanese since 1978. But Yu told his Japanese counterpart that Seoul will consider not submitting the proposal ``for the time being,'' only when Tokyo gives up its plan to carry out the maritime surveys in the South Korean economic waters. Fully aware of these conflicting positions, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon, however, predicted a good result to come from the bilateral consultation. ``I believe it would bring about an outcome that will not worry people so much,'' Ban told parliamentary leaders in Seoul earlier in the day. South Korea was considered to have nothing to lose even when it agreed to temporarily drop its idea of newly naming the seabed because Seoul had not yet decided to present the proposal. On the other hand, Tokyo could interpret Seoul's move as a compromise. Ahead of meeting with Yachi, Yu told reporters in Seoul that South Korea is currently reviewing necessary data collected from the seabed near Dokdo. ``We have not yet announced our plan to register the Korean name at the International Hydrographic Organization,'' Yu said. ``I think Japan reacted in an oversensitive way.'' But the vice foreign minister made it clear that South Korea cannot completely give up proposing a Korean name for the ocean floor because it is an inalienable right of a sovereign state. He also warned that Seoul would leave no stone unturned to protect Dokdo. ``Even if South Korea is torn on the issue, we must stop Japan from conducting the oceanographic surveys,'' Yu said. ``We consider the survey plan an attempt to violate our sovereignty. We think Japan has Dokdo in its mind despite its repeated argument that what it wants to do is simply a maritime survey.'' After arriving in Sakai on Wednesday, the two Japanese survey ships were refueled and replenished with daily necessities for their unscheduled journey. Japan originally planned to conduct the survey from April 20 to 26. Around 20 South Korean patrol ships have been put on high alert around Dokdo to deter the two ships from violating South Korean territorial waters. [ZZ] |