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| President Moon Jae-in, first lady Kim Jung-sook and other participants hold up the national flag during the March 1 Independence Movement Day ceremony at Tapgol Park in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
President Moon Jae-in renewed his call for Korea and Japan to move together toward future-oriented bilateral relations, Monday, while also urging Tokyo to contemplate its imperialist past.
The reconciliatory gesture comes as chilly relations between the neighboring countries have hindered the necessary cooperation that the new U.S. Joe Biden administration is focusing on. Washington is seeking trilateral cooperation on regional security issues.
However, diplomatic observers note that Moon's two-track strategy is a rerun of Seoul's existing "unsuccessful" approach to Tokyo, and do not expect it to help normalize ties strained by historical issues.
Relations between Korea and Japan have ebbed to their lowest in years due to the issues of Japan's use of Koreans for sexual and labor slavery before and during World War II.
"The only obstacle we have to overcome is that, sometimes, issues of the past cannot be separated from those of the future as they are intermingled with each other. This has impeded forward-looking development," President Moon said in a speech marking the March 1 Independence Movement Day, when in 1919 Koreans rose up to fight against Japanese colonial rule.
"We should learn a lesson by squarely facing the past. It is by no means shameful to learn a lesson from past wrongs, but it is rather a way to gain respect from the international community," Moon said. "The Korean government will always pursue wise solutions based on a victim-centered approach, vowing to restore the honor and dignity of any victims."
The speech comes at a time when Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Cabinet has strongly protested Korean court rulings ordering Japanese companies and the government to compensate Korean victims of their wartime atrocities.
At the same time, the President said his administration was always open to dialogue with the Japanese government, adding that the two sides should not be entangled in historical disputes linked to Japan's colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945.
"We must not let the past hold us back. We have to concentrate more energy on future-oriented development while resolving issues of the past separately. … Efforts for Korea-Japan cooperation and forward-looking development will not stop either," he said.
"The Korean government is always ready to sit down and have talks with the Japanese government. I am confident that if we put our heads together in the spirit of trying to understand each other's perspective, we will be able to wisely resolve issues of the past."
Moon also said their bilateral cooperation will facilitate stability and common prosperity in Northeast Asia, as well as trilateral Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation.
"There was nothing new from the government's established policy toward Japan in the address, an approach that Tokyo cannot positively respond to," said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.
According to Park, the Japanese government wants Korea to enact a law relieving Japan of any legal obligation to the Korean survivors of wartime atrocities, but Moon has failed to respond to the demand.
"If the Korean government really wanted to restore the strained relations, Moon should have offered to meet Suga without preconditions," the professor added.
Since late last year, President Moon has shown a shift in tone and rhetoric toward ties with Japan, which many believe is because he is seeking to take advantage of the Tokyo Summer Olympics to revive the stalled U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks and his peace initiative of engaging Pyongyang.
The President confirmed the speculation.
"The Tokyo Summer Olympic Games scheduled for this year may serve as an opportunity for dialogue between Korea and Japan, South and North Korea, North Korea and Japan, and North Korea and the U.S. Korea will work together with Japan for the success of the Olympics," he said.
Other than the North's Olympic participation, Moon did not talk much about deadlocked inter-Korean ties and the North Korea nuclear issue in his speech. The Kim Jong-un regime has refused South Korean offers for cross-border exchanges and cooperation following a failed summit with the U.S. in February 2019.
The President just vowed to maintain efforts for denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, while hoping that the North will participate in the Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative for Infectious Disease Control and Public Health that has already been joined by the U.S., China, Russia and Mongolia.
