Chronologies

Japan - Korea

Chronology from Jul 2010 to Oct 2010


: Families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea urge the Japanese government to take more proactive actions to make a breakthrough in the abduction issue.

: Japan’s Foreign Minister Maehara Seiji says that Japan is closing monitoring developments regarding North Korea’s leadership transition.

: North Korea holds a political conference and Kim Jong-un is appointed as vice chairman of the Central Military Committee of the Workers’ Party.

: Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing meet to discuss details of setting up a permanent secretariat for trilateral cooperation.

: Japanese Foreign Minister Maehara Seiji and acting South Korean Foreign Minister Shin Kak-Soo agree that North Korea has to show concrete action before the resumption of the Six-Party Talks.

: The Bank of Japan sells yen as currency trading opens in Tokyo.

: Kan Naoto is reelected head of the Democratic Party of Japan.

: Japan’s Defense White Paper emphasizes the importance of US military deterrence and expresses concerns over China’s increasing military power.

: South Korea expresses “deep regret” over Japan’s Defense White Paper’s description of the Dokdo/Takeshima islets as part of Japanese territory.

: Japan’s Agriculture Ministry announces that Japan is lifting a ban on South Korean poultry imports.

: The 100th anniversary of Japan’s annexation of Korea.

: Japan’s Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya tells his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi that the Six-Party Talks cannot easily be resumed “considering the feelings of South Korean and the South Korean government’s position.”

: Japan sends the South Korean government the records of those who died during forced labor at Japanese companies and mines during its colonial rule of Korea.

: South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak proposes a unification tax during his speech commemorating the 65th anniversary of Liberation Day.

: North Korea’s ambassador for normalization talks with Japan, Song Il-ho, says that Prime Minister Kan’s apology statement was “disappointing.”

: A group of North Korean victims and the families of the deceased victims of Japan’s colonial rule send a letter to Japan to demand immediate apology and compensation.

: The Japanese government releases the property tax collection practices of facilities for pro-North Korea General Association of Korean Residents in Japan.

: North Korea criticizes Prime Minister Kan for apologizing only to South Korea and for failing to settle the past.

: The Korean reunification index of the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University shows that the feasibility of the integration of the two Koreas in the areas of politics, economics, society, and culture declined in 2009 for a second straight year.

: Prime Minister Kan apologizes to South Korea for Japan’s colonial rule of Korea. Japan acknowledges for the first time the forceful nature of the annexation in 1910.

: Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Sengoku Yoshito says that Japan needs to remove impediments to future-oriented bilateral relations with Seoul from a humanitarian standpoint.

: Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on National Security and Defense Capabilities in the New Era completes its report.

: Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Sengoku Yoshito says Kim Hyon-hui’s visit was “meaningful.”

: Nakai Hiroshi, Japan’s state minister in charge of abduction issues, says that abduction victim Taguchi Yaeko was alive and well in Pyongyang six years ago. Pyongyang previously claimed that she died in 1986 in a car accident.

: Kim Hyon-hui, the sole surviving bomber of the 1987 Korean Air passenger flight, makes a four-day visit to Japan to meet the families of those abducted by North Korea.

: Japan’s Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya “recognizes that Korean pride was deeply bruised when they lost their country” in his written interview with South Korean daily Dong-A Ilbo.

: Prime Minister Kan Naoto’s ruling coalition loses a majority in the Upper House of the Diet following elections.

Date Range