Seoul to Express Regret to Tokyo for Abduction
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea will express regret this week to Japan for the 1973 abduction by South Korea's spy agency of then opposition leader Kim Dae-jung on Japanese soil, officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Saturday.
However, it remains to be seen whether Tokyo will accept Seoul's ``thought of regret'' as it demands the South Korean government ``apologize'' for the incident violating Japan's sovereignty.
The Seoul government released a report last Wednesday admitting that the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, predecessor of the National Intelligence Agency, was involved in Kim's abduction at a Tokyo hotel in 1973.
Kim, then 47, was a pro-democracy leader against then President Park Chung-hee's military dictatorship. Kim survived with the help of the U.S. government. He was brought back to South Korea and put under house arrest.
Kim was elected president in December 1997 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his life-long dedication to promoting peace and democracy on the Korean Peninsula.
The South Korean government had previously denied any involvement by state agencies in the kidnapping case, of which investigation later came to an end after political compromises between the two governments in 1973 and 1975.
``South Korean Ambassador to Japan, Yu Myung-hwan, will meet Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura early this week and convey the government's regret over the abduction case,'' a ministry official said, asking not to be named.
Yu intended to deliver the country's regret to Japan last Friday but the Japanese Foreign Ministry refused it, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
The Japan's foreign minister refused Yu's visit, citing his tight schedule, the Japanese newspaper said, describing the move as Japan's demand that South Korea do more than expressing ``regret.''
An official of Japan's Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying, ``The ministry was unable to decide whether to accept the message as the Cabinet members expect more than regret. Despite the fact that Japan's sovereignty was infringed upon as South Korea's public authority was exercised inside Japan, is it acceptable for Japan to only accept a statement of regret on the matter by South Korea instead of a clear apology?''
The official added it was not decided yet whether Komura would be able to receive Yu for a meeting or not.
A day earlier, the newspaper raised a question about the timing of South Korea's announcement about the abduction issue.
It said the Roh Moo-hyun government appears to have a political aim, with the presidential election approaching, of dealing a blow against the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) by bring up past wrongdoings committed by previous authoritarian governments.