President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday reaffirmed his commitment to moving relations with Japan further forward, saying the two countries can open up a new future even better than the best point of the past if they build trust through exchanges and cooperation.
Yoon made the remark during a Cabinet meeting two days after he held a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul. The summit was the second of its kind in less than two months and marked the resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" between the countries' leaders after a 12-year hiatus.
"Things that were unimaginable even until recently are happening now between South Korea and Japan," he said during the meeting at the presidential office, citing his agreement with Kishida to have a group of South Korean experts inspect the planned release of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
"If South Korea and Japan, which share the values of a liberal democracy, have exchanges with each other, cooperate and build trust, the South Korea-Japan relationship will be able to develop a new future beyond its prime of the past," he said.
Bilateral relations have warmed significantly since the Yoon administration offered in March to resolve a dispute over wartime forced labor by compensating the Korean victims without contributions from Japanese firms.
Kishida told reporters after Sunday's summit that his "heart aches" over the Koreans' difficult and sad experience under harsh conditions.
"If one does not neglect the history of the dark past and approaches it with sincerity, South Korea and Japan will be able to overcome the difficulties they face and open a new future," Yoon said after quoting Kishida's words.
Yoon marks his first year in office on Wednesday and his remarks were effectively seen as an address to the nation ahead of the anniversary.
He noted his plan to hold a trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Kishida on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, next week, and expressed confidence the three countries will strengthen their solidarity for the establishment of regional peace through security cooperation.
"If I think back to this time last year when I took office, there is no area that has seen greater change than foreign policy and security," he said before listing a series of diplomatic events he took part in, including his first summit with Biden 11 days after inauguration and his attendance at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Spain last June.
Yoon vowed to continue to place economic matters at the center of foreign policy and strive to increase exports and win investments from foreign cutting-edge companies.
He also claimed a "transformation" in South Korea's security, saying it previously relied on North Korea's "goodwill" but has now been reinforced through resumed South Korea-U.S. military exercises and his agreement with Biden to strengthen the U.S. "extended deterrence" commitment to defending South Korea with all of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons.
Yoon spoke to domestic issues as well, including the government's efforts to crack down on recent home rental scams and drug crimes.
He said the former government pursued "anti-market, abnormal" policies that resulted in skyrocketing home prices and market disruptions, thus creating the "soil" for the home rental scams.
"I will do my best. However, it takes time to restore a collapsed system and produce tangible results," Yoon said.
"There were also difficulties in overhauling necessary systems as we were blocked by legislation of the grand opposition," he added, referring to the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary for press affairs, later relayed Yoon's comments made behind closed doors, including his call for "bold personnel measures" in the event public officials do not conform with the new administration's lines of effort.
"It's important to accurately show the people what the previous government did and how we transformed it," he was quoted as saying.
"Take bold personnel measures if one is obsessed with nuclear phase-out and ideological environmental policies and taking an ambiguous stance without conforming to the new principles of state affairs," he said, referring to policies of the previous Moon Jae-in administration.
Source: Yonhap News Agency