Japan, S Korea finance ministers to meet in Washington

Money talks?

South Korea's recent defamation charge against a Japanese journalist nipped the possibility of a meeting between President Park and Prime Minister Abe either at ASEM or APEC. Abe so much disliked by Ms Park has no choice but to stand clear of the peninsula but he may find it not so bad as he can be a bit cold to not extend the bilateral currency swap that expires in February next year and apply himself to ruining unti-Japan clout such as the case of KB Kookmin Bank that was inspected by the Finance Ministry and ordered to suspend business for several months, which might brings more repercussions than the idiotic defamation case that only exposes the backwardness of Korea.

Seiharinokaze : South Korea's recent defamation charge against a Japanese journalist nipped the possibility of a meeting between President Park and Prime Minister Abe either at ASEM or APEC.

Hasn't PM Abe often been on the sharp end of the Japanese media's stick?

Maybe he'll high-five her in private!

Japan, S Korea finance ministers to meet in Washington

And absolutely nothing will come of this the South Korean officials will sit there put on fake smiles and talk about the weather. Then they will tell their Japanese counterparts that that South Korean will never agree to any real meeting with Abe until Japan is ready to pay the compensation that Korea was suppose to pay to it's people in 1965. The meeting will fall apart and everyone will home with no breakthroughs.

Then Park will blame Japan for "past aggressions" and claim that the meeting fell apart because of Japan.

President Park thinks she doesn't need trade with Japan because she has a brand new BFF, Communist China.

Maybe this will help both countries in economic cooperations than other kind of officials. Washington needs both countries .

turbotsat san,

Abe doesn't let prosecutor's office indict Asahi for its news report. He just lets Asahi take its medicine as journalism. Besides Abe's friendly approach may make Ms Park creep all over perhaps because Abe has no intention to pay any more than what was paid when the normalization treaty of 1965 was concluded in the name of perfect settlement of individual claims between Korea and Japan, and also because the cheap yen policy of Abenomics, if not successful in increasing the amount of export from Japan, weakens South Korea's export competitiveness in the automobile and steel industries, adding insult to the sharp drop in the sales of smart phones though it has nothing to do with Xperia or Aquos. Also the recent administrative action by the Financial Services Agency against KB Bookman Bank might shed light on the gross darkness behind its fraudulent loans. So Abe's style is more tricky and resourceful than Ms Park's which is rather temperamental.

Abe doesn't let prosecutor's office indict Asahi for its news report. He just lets Asahi take its medicine as journalism.

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So, Abe is not a dictator. He did not indict Asahi. Still freedom of speech, real or false, stays in Japan and Japanese prosecitors offices do not have to worry to be commanded by a dictator.