Park: Japan must accept colonial history
Source: Agencies |
January 5, 2013, Saturday
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SOUTH Korea's president-elect said yesterday that Japan needed to come to terms with its colonial history as tension between two Asian allies of the United States simmered over Japan's rule of Korea and an island dispute.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he wants to issue a statement that would supersede a landmark 1995 apology for Japan's past military aggression, a move that would likely raise hackles in South Korea, ruled by Japan from 1910-1945, and in China, where bitter wartime memories run deep.
"The two sides must have a correct view of history and pursue a future of reconciliation and cooperation, and for this it is important for Korea and Japan to try to build confidence," South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye told Abe's aide Fukushiro Nukaga in Seoul.
A "correct view of history" is shorthand for South Korea's desire for Japan to acknowledge its wartime and colonial excesses, something Tokyo says it has already done but which Seoul says falls short of what is required.
"The older generation must make the commitment to try to heal the wound, and must not become an obstacle to opening the way for the future generation," said Park, who takes office in February.
A handful of protesters assembled at Gimpo Airport outside Seoul ahead of Nukaga's arrival and one of them stabbed himself in the stomach with a small knife and was rushed to hospital.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he wants to issue a statement that would supersede a landmark 1995 apology for Japan's past military aggression, a move that would likely raise hackles in South Korea, ruled by Japan from 1910-1945, and in China, where bitter wartime memories run deep.
"The two sides must have a correct view of history and pursue a future of reconciliation and cooperation, and for this it is important for Korea and Japan to try to build confidence," South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye told Abe's aide Fukushiro Nukaga in Seoul.
A "correct view of history" is shorthand for South Korea's desire for Japan to acknowledge its wartime and colonial excesses, something Tokyo says it has already done but which Seoul says falls short of what is required.
"The older generation must make the commitment to try to heal the wound, and must not become an obstacle to opening the way for the future generation," said Park, who takes office in February.
A handful of protesters assembled at Gimpo Airport outside Seoul ahead of Nukaga's arrival and one of them stabbed himself in the stomach with a small knife and was rushed to hospital.
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