Minister to visit Japan to commemorate independence movement

By Jun Ji-hye

Park Sung-choon

Minister of Patriots and Veterans Park Sung-choon will visit Japan early next month to attend an event to commemorate the independence movement by Korean students who lived there during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea.

Park, who will lead a government delegation on a four-day trip from Feb. 6, will participate in the commemoration of the 96th anniversary of the Feb. 8 Declaration of Independence. The declaration was delivered by Korean college students in Japan in 1919 in a public park in Tokyo.

The government has so far dispatched working-level officials of the ministry for the event in order not to unnecessarily irritate the neighboring country. The most recent visit of the patriots minister was six years ago.

“Minister Park decided to visit Tokyo this time as this event is very meaningful ― this year marked the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule,” said a ministry official.

The Feb. 8 declaration sparked off the March First Independence Movement led in 1919 by Yu Gwan-sun in Korea, seeking a restoration of Korean sovereignty during Japanese rule.

What message Park will deliver to Japan during his opening remarks is drawing public attention as the Shinzo Abe administration is still denying Japanese atrocities during World War II.

Tokyo has been reluctant to resolve the issue of its sexual enslavement of Korean women during the war, while claiming that Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, which lie closer to Korea, are part of its territory, although it never established sovereignty.

Korea has geographically, historically and legally controlled Dokdo with a small police detachment there since its liberation in 1945.

During the visit to Japan, Park will also have a luncheon meeting with about 100 independence patriots living there to discuss the current situation facing them.

“The minister will also award the Order of Military Merit to 10 1950-53 Korean War veterans,” the official said.

Then he will visit Kanazawa, where independence fighter Yun Bong-gil was executed after spearheading the bombing of Japanese dignitaries in Shanghai.

“The minister’s plans are in line with the ministry’s report made to President Park Geun-hye on Jan. 19, vowing to raise public awareness about independence fighters, war veterans and those who died protecting the nation,” said the official.

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