Japan and South Korea have little to celebrate

As US allies in East Asia, Japan and South Korea should get along much better than they do. But they will have little to celebrate when they hold events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of their relations on Monday.

Relations between them are strained because of a territorial dispute, conflicting views over Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 and the so-called comfort women issue.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se visited Japan on Sunday, the first visit by a South Korean foreign minister in four years, for the commemoration. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye have not had a formal one-on-one meeting since they took office.