Leaders tread carefully, lest they step on domestic toes

SEOUL - In a carefully staged display of working toward better relations, the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea each played to a vast, unseen audience -- their own compatriots.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye paid attention to details as host of her first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Nov. 2. She donned a green jacket, the colour worn at a June event marking 50 years since their two countries restored diplomatic relations. It is also the colour she wears to meetings with domestic opposition party leaders.

Park greeted Abe with a smile and a handshake as he stepped out of his motorcade outside the presidential Blue House here. She offered him a seat in Japanese with a friendly "dozo."

'Biggest obstacle' to relations

But the mood changed once the summit began. Park told Abe she wants to settle the issue of wartime "comfort women" -- which she called the "biggest obstacle" to relations between their countries -- "at a level that the Korean people can accept."

Abe held his ground. Some things are just not possible, he said, referring to the Japanese government accepting legal responsibility for abuses against comfort women -- an outcome that South Korean advocacy groups have sought.

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