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persuading the Korean people that he offered the best govern-
ment available. On balance, Mr Matsunaga thought that Korea's
internal stability had, for the time being, improved since
President Chun's visit. It had certainly increased hiw own self-
confidence.
18.
The visit had marked a new stage in Japan/ROK relations. It had partially, but not totally, liquidated the contra-
dictory emotions of the Korean people towards the Japanese,
which derived from history. These sentiments were complex and
it was not yet possible to talk of their complete liquidation.
They could be triggered off again by something like the text-
book problem, or the difficulties surrounding compensation
claims.
19. After the KAL and Rangoon incidents, tensions in the Korean
peninsula had increased, and remained high today. But North Korea was now clearly trying to show flexibility in its relations with the outside world, including Japan, ie it was softening its attitude. North Korea's fundamental objective
of reunifying the peninsula on its own terms remained, but there
was a change of strategy. Japan believed that dialogue was
essential to a peaceful settlement of the Korea question.
The North had proposed tripartite conversations, to which the South was opposed. Japan felt bound to support the South, but
actually felt that tripartite or even quadripartite talks
(including China as well as the US) need not be excluded.
acute question between Japan and the ROK at the moment was
whether to lift the sanctions imposed on North Korea after the Rangoon incident. The Japanese government took the view that
sanctions and basic policy towards the North were of different orders of magnitude, and to be considered separately. The ROK
did not share this view. When the Japanese government
announced sanctions in November
One
1983, it made clear that they
were temporary. The Japanese government would now have to examine ways of lifting them, if only for internal political
reasons; but the when and how had not yet been
decided.
Even
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/now
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