Japanese Lawmaker Warns S. Korea Not to Meddle

A Liberal Democratic member of Parliament has warned South Korea’s ambassador to Japan that interference in Japan’s domestic affairs could create a dangerous situation between the two countries when there are no longer U.S. alliances with Japan and South Korea, it was learned Wednesday.

Shizuka Kamei, 49, the ruling party lawmaker, and the South Korean Embassy both confirmed that such a statement was made, though they differed on Kamei’s specific words.

Park Jung Ho, a spokesman for the South Korean Embassy, said that Ambassador Lee Kyu Ho had told South Korean reporters here Tuesday that Kamei spoke of the danger of a “war” between the two countries in “10 or 20 years.”

Claims Remarks Were Distorted

Kamei, responding to reports carried by South Korean newspaper and television networks, said his remarks were distorted.

Kamei told the Japanese newspaper Asahi that he had mentioned a possibility of “a dangerous situation” occurring in “30 or 40 years,” after the expiration of U.S. alliances with the two countries.

Asahi quoted him as saying further: “At present, within the framework of the U.S.-Japan and the U.S.-South Korea defense treaties, even though some waves and winds may rock Japan-Korea relations, there is no possibility of a war.

“However, in 30 or 40 years’ time, with changes in the international situation, there is no assurance that this framework will continue. At a time when a brake ceases to exist, if stress accumulates between our two countries, a dangerous situation could occur. While the present framework exists, we must speak our true minds to establish firmly a relationship of real friendship and lay down rules not to intervene in each other’s domestic affairs.”

It was believed to be the first time a member of the ruling party had spoken publicly about a possible end of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.

Cites Examples

As examples of what he called interference in Japan’s affairs, Kamei cited recent protests from South Korea and China about Japanese textbooks and visits by Japanese Cabinet ministers to Yasukuni Shrine, where the souls of war criminals are considered to be enshrined.

Kamei could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Park, the Korean Embassy spokesman, said Kamei’s remark was made in an otherwise “very friendly” atmosphere. Park said the South Korean Foreign Ministry has no intention of making a diplomatic complaint, but he noted that a Foreign Ministry official in Seoul and a spokesman for President Chun Doo Hwan’s ruling Democratic Justice Party had issued statements condemning Kamei.

Kamei had called on the South Korean ambassador in advance of a visit to South Korea and China by a group of Liberal Democrats belonging to the Assn. of Comrades Studying Fundamental Problems of the Nation.

Kamei is a member of the Liberal Democratic faction in Parliament headed by Shintaro Abe, chairman of the ruling party’s executive board and a leading candidate to succeed Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. Another member of this faction is Masayuki Fujio, who was dismissed last month from the post of education minister for saying that Korea was partly responsible for its 35-year colonization by Japan.