South Korea and Japan Thursday agreed to make efforts to improve ties amid a deepening chasm caused by their troubled shared history.
  

The agreement was made at a trilateral meeting also involving the United States here as the three countries concurred to bolster cooperation to tackle challenges in the region and beyond as their No. 2 diplomats held an unprecedented meeting seen as U.S. efforts to improve relations between the two Asian allies.
  
Despite such efforts, there was no noticeable progress on historical tensions that have stymied relations between Seoul and Tokyo at the talks hosted by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken with South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki.
  

The meeting appeared to reflect the urgency the U.S. sees in the need for improvement in Korea-Japan ties, which have been badly strained for years, due mainly to Tokyo's attempts to whitewash its wartime atrocities and colonial occupation, especially its sexual enslavement of women for its troops during World War II.
  

"The stronger the relationship among us, and the stronger the relations between us, the better off all three of us are, and I think I can safely say that's a perspective that both of my colleagues share," Blinken said during a joint news conference with Cho and Saiki.
  

Blinken said what Japan and Korea have in common "far, far outweighs any differences that exist."
  

"We're not mediating between Japan and the Republic of Korea. We're simply encouraging our closest friends to have the strongest possible relationship because it matters to us. Our ability to tackle together the many challenges we talked about is enhanced when the relationship between us is as strong as possible," he said.
  

Cho said South Korea is taking a two-track approach to relations with Japan, maintaining a "consistent and principled position" on historical issues while trying to promote cooperation on other issues where cooperation is beneficial to both sides.
  

"Although we have differences, I don't think that will be the end of our undertaking," he said. "In spite of the differences, we find ways to cooperate on issues and areas where cooperation is good and beneficial to Korea, as well as to Japan. Diplomacy is about working, trying to find the way to work together while we have healthy differences on issues."
  

Saiki said Japan squarely faces history and the onus for improving the ties is on both sides.
  

"Both sides are responsible for making the relationship better, and Japan on its part will continue to make efforts to improve the relationship with our Korean friends, and I'm hoping that our Korean friends are also going to do the same thing," he said.
  

Frayed relations between the two allies have been a key cause for concern for the U.S. as it seeks to bolster three-way security cooperation as a key pillar for President Barack Obama's "pivot to Asia," aimed in part at keeping a rising China in check.
  

Earlier this week, Blinken expressed optimism, saying Seoul-Tokyo relations now appear to be "on a profoundly positive trajectory," citing a recent series of meetings between the two sides, including the resumption of a security dialogue that had been suspended for five years.
  

Indeed, South Korea and Japan have increased meetings in recent months, especially since the two countries and China held their first foreign ministers' talks in three years last month and agreed to work toward resuming a long-suspended trilateral summit.
  

Earlier this month, Seoul and Tokyo also held tourism ministers' talks for the first time in four years, and senior defense officials of the two countries also held annual trilateral cooperation talks with the U.S. in Washington on Thursday.
  

Despite the budding signs of rapprochement, the two sides have continued to spar over historical and territorial issues, with Tokyo renewing its claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in a foreign policy report and school textbooks, while Seoul lodged strong protests.
  

This shows that any improvement in their ties can easily be short-lived. Tensions could flare anew at any time and genuine reconciliation between South Korea and Japan will be difficult to achieve unless Tokyo fundamentally addresses the sexual slavery and other historical issues.
  

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's upcoming trip to the U.S., including an address at a joint session of Congress, is seen as a key gauge of how the Seoul-Tokyo ties will go, amid widespread views that the relations are unlikely to get any better unless Abe offers a sincere apology for Japan's imperialistic past and wartime atrocities. (Yonhap)