The author, Gong Ro-Myung, 74, is a former foreign minister of South Korea, the Korean chairman of the Japan-South Korea Forum, and president of the Asahi Shimbun Asia Network. He also served as South Korea's ambassador to the USSR, Russia and Japan.

In the spring of 2005, a series of anti-Japan demonstrations said to be of an unprecedented scale broke out in South Korea in the wake of Shimane Prefecture's enactment of its "Takeshima Day" ordinance and in China over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine and their alleged linkage to Japan's attempt to gain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Certain politicians who have been named as influential candidates to become Japan's next prime minister have not ruled out the possibility of visiting Yasukuni Shrine. Accordingly, the matter may not be so simple that it will be resolved if a change of leadership occurs.

If such a situation continues, the three countries may in five or ten years time continue to face a series of tensions and confrontations over territorial and Yasukuni-related issues. Japanese government sources state that Japan has problems only with China and South Korea and that its relationships with other countries such as India, Australia and Southeast Asian nations are going well. Such comments suggest that the fault lies only with South Korea and China.

However, according to Japanese newspapers, U.S. and Southeast Asian leaders and specialists who participated in recent international gatherings in Tokyo do not necessarily believe that to be the case. In reference to Japan's relationships with China and South Korea, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said, "we should not allow regional cooperation to be held hostage to bilateral constraints," and called for efforts to improve the relationships.

Furthermore, Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore, who recently visited China and South Korea, commented that both countries are eager to cooperate with Japan as long as Japan's leaders reflect genuinely on historical war-time issues.

Thomas C. Hubbard, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, made it clear that the U.S. government is concerned about a tense regional situation which could result from worsening Japan-China ties. Prof. Gerald Curtis of Columbia University pointed out that "the Yasukuni issue is having a negative impact on Japan's image not only in China but also in the rest of the world."

In such circumstances, for the first time in six years, South Korea and Japan in June held demarcation talks to establish the border between their exclusive economic zones. However, they failed to cover over the basis of antagonism relating to Dokdo (or Takeshima, as it is referred to in Japan), for which both parties are claiming territorial rights. They simply agreed to meet again for consultations in Seoul this September. If the talks arrive at a satisfactory settlement, South Korea and Japan will be able to ease substantially the friction between them. To achieve that purpose, there will be no other option for the two countries but to regard Dokdo as "rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own" based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and to draw an intermediate line of demarcation between South Korea's Ullundo island and Japan's Oki islands.

Japan may be reluctant to recognize Dokdo as rocks in relation to its Oki-no-Torishima islands in the Pacific Ocean and other issues. However, I believe that, as "an advanced nation," Japan should not be reluctant to accept a fair interpretation of the U.N. convention.

Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, at the international conference referred to above, delivered a speech saying that, once an agreement has been reached to create an East Asian Community, it is desirable for the countries concerned to behave in a self-restrained manner so as not to run counter to the concept of the community. In order for South Korea, Japan and China to enjoy peace and realize regional coexistence and co-prosperity, they should pay heed to Mr. Nakasone's words. As Mr. Lee Kuan Yew urged, narrow-minded nationalism must be overcome by maintaining amicable and competitive relationships. What is clearly required from the political leaders of the three countries is to have a vision and to display leadership in moving in that direction.