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Chronology of Japan-Korea Relations October - December 2009 Oct. 7, 2009: Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya, speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, calls for a common history textbook with South Korea and China. Oct. 8, 2009: South Korea welcomes Foreign Minister Okada’s proposal for a joint history textbook. Oct. 9, 2009: Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio visits Seoul and meets President Lee Myung-bak. Oct. 10, 2009: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister Hatoyama, and President Lee hold a trilateral summit in Beijing. Oct. 13, 2009: Japan announces the formation of a new task force on the abduction issue that limits the number of its standing Cabinet members to 4 from 18 to increase flexibility. Oct. 19, 2009: South Korea’s state-run think tank, the Northeast Asian History Foundation reveals the results of a survey in which 65.5 percent of the Japanese polled said that they view Japan’s relations with South Korea as positive, up 12.5 percent points from last year. Oct. 25, 2009: Japanese Vice Prime Minister Kan Naoto encourages the Maritime Self-Defense Force to be prepared for threats posed by North Korea. Oct. 25, 2009: Japan, South Korea, and China agree to start joint research by representatives of academic, government, and private sector toward the possibility of a trilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Plus 3. Oct. 27, 2009: Prime Minister Hatoyama asks Cabinet ministers to step up efforts to resolve the abduction issue. Oct. 28, 2009: Nine ruling party lawmakers claim that the Hatoyama administration must work so that the Diet passes a bill recognizing the “comfort women” in order to form an East Asian Community as proposed by Hatoyama. Oct. 30, 2009: The Japanese government submits a bill to the Diet to enable the Japan Coast Guard to inspect vessels suspected of carrying prohibited cargo to and from North Korea. Oct. 31, 2009: Japan, South Korea, and China agree at a ministerial meeting in Kobe to facilitate their cooperation in preparing for typhoons, earthquakes, and other disasters. Oct. 31, 2009: Prime Minister Hatoyama reportedly says Japan does not necessarily have to wait until the abduction issue is fully resolved to normalize diplomatic relations with North Korea. Japan-Korea Relations 123 January 2010 Japan-Korea Relations 124 January 2010 Nov. 14, 2009: Relatives of the Japanese abductees hail US President Barack Obama’s speech in Tokyo for his strong message on the abduction issue. Nov. 14, 2009: Eight Japanese tourists die from a fire at an indoor shooting range in South Korean port city Busan. Later two more Japanese die, increasing the number of victims to 10. Nov. 18, 2009: Soka Gakkai International President Daisaku Ikeda receives the National Medal of Culture from the South Korean government. Nov. 27, 2009: South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. announces that it will stop sales of passenger vehicles in Japan. Nov. 28, 2009: Japan launches an H-2A rocket carrying a satellite to collect intelligence on North Korea’s military activities. Dec. 8-10, 2009: Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, special US envoy for North Korean policy, visits Pyongyang. Dec. 9, 2009: Foreign Minister Okada assures relatives of Japanese abducted to North Korea that the Hatoyama government will continue to work to resolve the abduction issue. Dec. 12, 2009: Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ozawa Ichiro apologizes for the wrongdoings of Japan during its colonization of Korea. He also meets President Lee. Dec. 12, 2009: Japanese Cabinet Office announces an annual poll on foreign relations that indicates 63.1 percent of Japanese feel friendly toward South Korea, up 6 percent from last year. Dec. 25, 2009: Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan summons Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Toshinori Shigeie to express regrets over Japan’s decision to include reference to Dokdo/Takeshima islets as part of Japanese territory in new history textbooks. Dec. 28, 2009: Thirteen Asian countries sign an agreement to implement a $120 billion regional currency swap arrangement that will be launched in March 2010.