South Korea, Japan, China seek regional alliance

SEOGWIPO, South Korea, June 3 (Reuters) Foreign ministers from South Korea, Japan and China tried today to smooth their often acrimonious relations and also look for a way to break the impasse over North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions.

But the talks, in the scenic southern tip of the South Korean resort island of Cheju, carefully skirted grievances that go back to the first half of the 20th century, when China and South Korea were under Japanese military rule.

South Korea's Song Min-soon hosted Japan's Taro Aso and China's new Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in talks that agreed the need to kickstart economic and cultural projects and so forge a closer regional friendship.

The three major Asian countries have been unable to form an alliance that reflects their combined economic strength and strategic importance, while Tokyo looks increasingly towards the United States and Australia for security balance against China's growing military might, analysts say.

STALEMATE Song said the stalemate over efforts to end the North's nuclear programme, rooted in the communist state's demand that 25 million dollars of its funds stuck at the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA) be returned as a precondition, was not just a techical problem.

''We need to come up with a solution that goes beyond the technical and legal obstacles, while minding the limitations and interests of each of the parties,'' Song said, without elaborating on how it might be resolved.

South Korea and China have previously said the banking problem is simply a technical matter, but efforts to transfer the funds have proven unsuccessful and have meant no moves by the North to adhere to a Feb. 13 nuclear disarmament deal.

The three ministers turned their attention to friendship, sidestepping grievances that hark back to the days when Japan was the dominant military power in the region.

''The three countries take up 17 per cent of the world's GDP, and I think the role that Japan, China and South Korea can play is tremendous,'' Japanese Foreign Minister Aso Taro said at the opening of the three-way meeting.

The ministers agreed to speed up studies on a free trade deal and investment treaty. As some of the world's largest oil importers, they will work towards an energy alliance to improve bargaining power and devise a response to climate change issues that affect all of them, Song said.

They will also look at the possibility of shuttle flights between Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai.

Song and Yang travel to Seoul on Monday to join ministers from 27 other countries for the annual Asia Cooperation Dialogue meeting.

Aso will return to Tokyo, with his deputy taking his place at the meeting.

Aso raised eyebrows on the resort island by arriving in a military transport plane rather than on a civilian flight.

But South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Shim Yoon-joe dismissed any suggestion of impropriety, saying that Aso had used the plane because he needed to return to Japan later the same day. He also pointed out that it was a Japanese government, rather than a Self-Defence Force, plane.

REUTERS LPB KN1828