SEOUL– President Moon Jae-in called Tuesday for Japan to look squarely at history and show a humble attitude over its wartime past in order for the two countries to overcome historical feuds and move forward for cooperation.
In a speech marking Korea’s 1919 nationwide uprising against Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, Moon said South Korea remains open to dialogue with Japan to work together on various regional and global issues, such as COVID-19 and supply chains.
South Korea and Japan “should be able to overcome the ‘history of a once unfortunate past’ and cooperate toward the future,” Moon said, describing the two nations as “close neighbors.” “To that end, Japan must look squarely at history and be humble before history.”
Moon said Japan can become a “trusted nation” only if it “can sympathize with the wounds of the people of its neighboring country.”
Diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Tokyo have run deep since 2019, when Japan imposed a set of export restrictions against South Korea in a move seen as economic retaliation for South Korean court rulings against Japanese firms involved in forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule.
Japan’s recent heritage bid for a controversial mine added to a litany of thorny issues between the two countries, including Japan’s claims to Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, its wartime sexual slavery and its planned discharge of tainted nuclear plant water into the ocean.
The latest tussle over the Sado mine — where as many as 2,000 Koreans were thought to have been mobilized to work against their will — struck a particularly jarring note as it put a damper on Seoul’s hitherto unfruitful fence-mending efforts with Tokyo.
Moon’s speech came a day after South Korea said it will ban exports of strategic items to Russia and join international sanctions to exclude major Russian financial institutions from a key global payment system to increase pressure over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the speech, Moon expressed concerns about a “new Cold War” and a rising “nation-centrism” to take supremacy by force. The remarks were seen as a veiled condemnation against Russia’s military action despite international warnings.
A lesson from the 1919 nationwide uprising is that South Korea should not be swayed by the international order centered on global powers and must have its own power to lead its history, Moon said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency