Moon urges Japan to reflect on wartime past
President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook sing a memorial song for the March 1st Independence Movement during a ceremony to mark its 99th anniversary at Seodaemun Prison History Hall in Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap
By Yi Whan-woo
President Moon Jae-in urged Japan to sincerely reflect on its imperial invasion of the Korean Peninsula, during a ceremony Sunday to mark the anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement in 1919.
He said issues on Japan’s sexual enslavement of the Korean women are “not over,” accusing Tokyo of refusing to apologize following a controversial agreement reached between the two countries on former sex slaves in December 2015.
Moon also criticized the country for its repeated territorial claims over Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, claiming denying Seoul’s sovereignty over the islets was “no different from rejecting self-reflection of its imperialistic invasion.”
The Japanese government strongly protested Moon’s speech.
Top spokesman and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga argued Moon’s view on the sex slavery went against the 2015 agreement and therefore Japan could never accept it.
Suga also argued the accord was “final and irreversible” and that his country will continue to ask Korea to implement the deal.
The ceremony took place at Seodaemun Prison History Hall, the site of colonial-era prison in Seoul.
This is the first time the government has celebrated the anniversary of the 1919 March 1 Movement, an independence movement in protest of 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule, at the prison site.
“To resolve the comfort women issue, the Japanese government, the perpetrator, should not say the matter is closed,” Moon said in his speech. “The issue of a crime against humanity committed in a time of war cannot be closed with just a word. A genuine resolution of unfortunate history is to remember it and learn a lesson from it.”
He pointed out that Japan took control over Dokdo for the first time during its occupation of the peninsula.
“It is our indigenous territory. Japan’s current denial of this fact is no different from rejecting self-reflection of the imperialistic invasion,” he said.
Moon’s speech comes amid prolonged disputes over Japan’s unrepentant stance toward its wartime past and the disputed December 2015 agreement aimed at settling the sex slavery issue.
Last year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country would “not move even one millimeter” on the agreement.
But the Moon government, saying the deal was hastily made under the former President Park Geun-hye administration, has refused to accept it.
Japan recently added fuel to the historical row after opening a government-sponsored exhibition center in Tokyo to promote its claim over Dokdo as Takehshima.
Moon asked Japan to “squarely face the truth of history and justice with the universal conscience of humanity.”
The President said he still hopes that Tokyo will be able to “genuinely reconcile with its neighbors on which it inflicted suffering and walk the path of peaceful coexistence and prosperity together.”
“I do not demand any special treatment from Japan. I just hope that as the geographically closest neighboring country, we will be able to move forward toward the future together based on sincere self-reflection and reconciliation,” he added.
For Koreans, he said the people should not longer undervalue themselves while correcting the wrongs in the past.
He was apparently linking the 1919 March 1 Movement and the massive candlelit protests against the scandal-ridden President Park, which led her to be ousted and ultimately helped him to be elected.
“We managed to revive the history of popular sovereignty that had been initiated by the March 1 Independence Movement,” he said. “In the most peaceful and magnificent manner, 17 million candles held up high made it possible for that history to unfold. Each light that brightened up the darkness declared once again that each individual was the sovereign owner of the Republic of Korea.”
He claimed “new history of popular sovereignty has begun to be written again,” claiming next year marks the 100th anniversary of founding of the Korean government.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea assessed that the President “rightly guided the course of direction” for Korea’s future in relation to the 1919 March 1 Movement.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party of Korea accused Moon of stirring up controversy over the founding year of the Korean government. Many conservatives say it began in 1948 with the beginning of Syngnam Rhee administration, not in 1919 when the provisional government was set up.