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| President Moon Jae-in has a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Cheong Wa Dae, Friday, in the left photo. Kishida, right, briefs his phone call with Moon to Japanese media, Friday. Yonhap |
Japanese PM Kishida sends offering to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine
By Kwon Mee-yoo
President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have reaffirmed that the two nations are far from narrowing the differences in their views on historical issues such as Japan's wartime forced labor and sex slavery.
The leaders had their first phone call Friday, which was made 11 days after Kishida took office. During the 30-minute call, the two agreed to develop bilateral ties in a future-oriented manner, according to Cheong Wa Dae and Japanese media report.
They also discussed other issues such as concerns over North Korea, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and COVID-19 response.
Although the two U.S. allies share similar security concerns over North Korea and China, their talks again showed disagreement over lingering colonial and wartime issues, signaling these are likely to remain as obstacles for bilateral relations for a while.
Japan insists that the 1965 treaty normalizing bilateral ties settled all war-related compensation, but President Moon explained during the phone call how the two countries have different legal interpretation over the 1965 treaty, saying the two nations must find solutions through diplomacy.
Regarding the wartime sex slavery issue, he also called for an urgent solution, saying there are only 13 known survivors still alive.
But according to Japanese media, Kishida said he told the Korean President that Korea needs to come up with a solution over the historical disputes, indicating that Japan will keep its earlier stance over the matters despite the leadership change.
Relations between the two nations have been at an all-time low, after Japan imposed exports curbs against Korea in 2019 in an apparent retaliation against a Korean top court ruling that ordered Japanese companies to compensate South Korean survivors of wartime forced labor.
Even before they confirmed the disagreement through the phone call, it had been widely said that Tokyo was deprioritizing diplomatic ties with Korea even further than the previous Yoshihide Suga administration, as it took 11 days for the new Japanese prime minister to talk with Moon after his inauguration, while it took eight days for Suga.
The call with Moon was Kishida's seventh phone call with a head of state. Kishida already spoke with his counterparts in the U.S. and Australia the day after he took office, followed by Russia, India, China and the U.K.
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| A tree offering to the Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is seen in the war-linked shrine, Tokyo, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap |
Turning the situation worse, Kishida sent offerings to the Yasukuni Shrine Sunday, for the first time as prime minister.
The Yasukuni Shrine is a controversial war shrine commemorating some 2.5 million Japanese war dead, 14 of whom are Class-A criminals from World War II. It is seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism against neighboring countries.
Kishida sent ritual offerings to celebrate the shrine's autumn festival, according to Japan's Kyodo News Agency. However, Kishida did not visit the shrine in person.
A longtime politician, Kishida had not visited the controversial shrine nor sent offerings before, but he sent offerings after swearing in as prime minister, following his predecessors' footsteps.
Korea expressed regrets over Kishida's offerings to the shrine on the same day.
"The government expresses deep disappointment and regrets that Japanese leaders again sent the offerings or repeated their visits to the Yasukuni Shrine," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
"The government urges Japanese leaders to squarely face history and show their humble introspection and genuine self-reflection for its past history through actions."
