Japan's New Description of S Korea

choi

Nozomi Matsui and Hajimu Takeda, Foreign Ministry No Longer Says South Korea Shares ‘Basic values.’ Asahi Shimbun, Mar 4, 2015.
ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201503040029

My comment:
(a) "Yuki ASABA, associate professor of political science at the Policy Research Center of the University of Niigata Prefecture"

新潟県立大学政策研究センター准教授  浅羽 祐樹 (where センター is katakana for center)
(b) At first glance, it SEEMS to be an improvement, from in the PAST "an important neighboring country that shares basic values, such as freedom, democracy and a market economy, with Japan" to the present "THE most important neighboring country." (emphasis added).  However, Japan's foreign ministry's website uses Japanese (not English), so there is no "an" or "the."

大韓民国[:] 最近の韓国情勢と日韓関係. 外務省, 平成２７ [2015] 年２月
www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/page22_000039.html
(section 1 "日韓関係の基本的考え方[:] 日韓両国は最も重要な隣国同士")
(c) Japanese English dictionary
dōshi (principal); doshi 同士 【どうし(P); どし】 (n): "fellow; mutual; companion; comrade"

(d) How do Koreans react?

Tae-jun Kang, Did Japan Just Change Its Attitude Toward South Korea? A change in Japan’s official diplomatic language is causing a furor in South Korea. The Diplomat, Mar 5, 2015
thediplomat.com/2015/03/did-japan-just-change-its-attitude-toward-south-korea/
(South Korean daily Munhwa Ilbo reported that the change in the MOFA’s description of South Korea could be read as Japan trying to deny past affairs by ignoring neighboring countries’ concern over Japan’s rightward shift. South Korea’s News1 said the shift could damage South Korea-Japan relations, which have deteriorated recently. Park and Abe have yet to have a formal bilateral meeting, although both have been in power for over two years")
(i) There is no need to read the rest of The Diplomat's blog.
(ii) Munhwa Ilbo  文化日報
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munhwa_Ilbo
(daily; printed its first issue in 1991)

The Hyundai Group founded it (based in Seoul), but sold it in 1998 following Asian Financial Crisis the previous year. I can not find out who is the new/current owner.