Foreign Ministry mulls merger of separate desks for China and Japan

The Foreign Ministry may merge its departments on China and Japan affairs, which some analysts say would further weaken Seoul’s ties with Beijing as the current administration pursues closer ties with Washington and Tokyo...

In this file photo dated Aug. 4, the foreign ministers of Korea, Japan and China greet each other during the Aesan Plus Three forum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. From left, Foreign Minister Park Jin, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Korea is expected to host trilateral foreign ministerial and presidential summits before the end of the year. [NEWS1]

The Foreign Ministry may merge its departments on China and Japan affairs, which some analysts worry will further weaken Seoul’s ties with Beijing as the current administration pursues closer ties with Washington and Tokyo.

The ministry is mulling over the move, diplomatic sources told the JoongAng Ilbo exclusively on Friday, which would merge the Northeast Asia Bureau, which handles relations with China, with the Asia Pacific Bureau, which oversees ties with Japan and other nations in the region.

“We are considering various measures and will reach a final decision after consultations with relevant ministries before the end of the year,” a Foreign Ministry official told the JoongAng Ilbo on Friday.

The merger would reverse the ministry's decision four years ago to create a separate bureau to focus on policies pertaining to China.

In April 2019, the ministry decided to designate two different bureaus to handle the relations with China and Japan separately, which were being handled singularly by the Northeast Asia bureau at the time.

It was a decision that the former Moon Jae-in government made after years of deliberation to ensure that “all four major countries,” meaning the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, “would get their own separate bureau,” strengthening Korea’s relations with each nation, according to the ministry’s statement at the time.

Analysts saw the transition mainly as a move by the Moon government to strengthen ties with China, given that two of the three departments of the Northeast Asia bureau after the transition pertained to relations with China. The third dealt with Mongolia.

On the other hand, the Asia Pacific bureau had one department to focus on relations with Japan and two others to focus on relations with India, Nepal, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island states.

Some experts worried about the possible message the reversal would signal to Beijing.

“Since 2020, the year after the transition at the Northeast Asia bureau, relations with China have not been active due to the Covid-19 shutdown, and even after the start of the Yoon Suk Yeol government last year, foreign policy has been focused on cooperation between Korea, the United States, and Japan,” said Kang Jun-young, professor of international relations at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

“If the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ bureau on China is reorganized when it is necessary to strengthen relations with China, it may send the wrong message to China,” Kang said.

From the get-go, the Yoon government focused on strengthening relations with Washington and Tokyo to counter security threats from North Korea.

From right, President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden, greet each other during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21. [YONHAP]

Other diplomatic sources said the bureau transition may take place as part of an ongoing effort of the Yoon government to pursue closer relations with both Beijing and Japan.

Seoul hopes to host a stalled trilateral leaders’ summit within the year, having invited both Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

“All three nations are positive about hosting the summit at the earliest convenient time,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The regular trilateral summit, first held in 2008 in Fukuoka, Japan, and last held in 2019 in Chengdu, China, was halted over the Covid-19 pandemic and tensions between Korea and Japan over historical and economic issues.

BY PARK HYUN-JU, ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]