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Abe begins U.S. visit amid history row with neighbors

All News 08:13 April 27, 2015

By Chang Jae-soon

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Yonhap) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Boston Sunday for a weeklong visit to the United States expected to illustrate the ever-tightening ties between the two allies and simmering historical tensions with its neighbors.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was to host a dinner for Abe later Sunday in his hometown of Boston, where Abe plans to visit Harvard and MIT universities Monday before flying to Washington for summit talks with President Barack Obama and a speech at a joint session of Congress.

The speech, set for Wednesday, will be the first of its kind for a Japanese prime minister and symbolizes the grand welcome the U.S. is throwing for a leader who has helped address U.S. security and economic needs in a region marked by China's rise

In summit talks set for Tuesday, Obama and Abe are expected to celebrate progress in negotiations to forge an Asia-Pacific free trade agreement, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, as well as the revision to the defense cooperation guidelines between the two countries.

The TPP, if concluded, would represent an unmistakable achievement as Obama struggles to leave a legacy before his second term ends in two years. The revision to the defense guidelines is expected to call for Japan to increase its military role through "collective self-defense."

Collective self-defense empowers Japan to fight alongside its allies even when not under attack itself. Japan's Cabinet reinterpreted Tokyo's war-renouncing constitution to make it possible for the country to exercise the right. The revision is also seen as an effort to keep a rising China in check.

The trip, which runs through May 2 and also includes stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles, will also be watched closely amid calls for the nationalist leader to use the high-profile visit as a chance to improve relations with South Korea.

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have been badly strained for years, due mainly to Tokyo's attempts to whitewash its wartime atrocities and colonial occupation, especially its sexual enslavement of Korean women for its troops during World War II.

The two countries have not held a formal bilateral summit of their leaders since 2012 as Tokyo has refused to accept Seoul's demand that it formally apologize to and compensate the sexual slavery victims, known as "comfort women."

Frayed relations between the two allies have been a key cause for concern for the U.S. as it seeks to bolster three-way security cooperation seen as a key pillar for Obama's "pivot to Asia" initiative aimed in part at curbing China's rise.

In the runup to the visit, pressure mounted on Abe to resolve history tensions, with a bipartisan group of 25 congressmen sending a joint letter urging him to address history issues, as well as mainstream U.S. media, including The New York Times, saying the success of Abe's visit depends on how honestly he confronts Japan's wartime history.

Despite such pressure, however, widespread indications are that Abe is unlikely to offer a sincere apology for the wartime atrocities, including the sexual slavery issue, which would mean that Seoul-Tokyo relations won't get better any time soon.

jschang@yna.co.kr
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