President Lee Myung-bak and the first lady, Kim Yoon-ok, along with other national leaders, wave Korean flags at a nationally televised ceremony commemorating Liberation Day, marking the end of Japan??s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, yesterday at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul. [YONHAP]Japan must acknowledge its past and teach ??correct?? history to its youth, President Lee Myung-bak demanded yesterday, in a departure from his Liberation Day address last year when he emphasized reconciliation, reflecting the lowest point in Korea-Japan relations thus far in Lee??s presidency.
Lee??s remarks were part of a wide-ranging speech at a ceremony televised nationwide to mark the nation??s independence from Japanese rule, amid growing public resentment toward its neighbor??s intensifying territorial claims over the Dokdo islets.
??Japan has a responsibility to teach its young generation the truth about what happened in the past,?? Lee said. ??By doing so, we can then allow young people in Korea and Japan to forge ahead into the new era with a correct recognition and understanding of history. This kind of cooperation will greatly contribute to the peace and prosperity of the world as well as Northeast Asia.??
The pain and suffering inflicted by the Japanese, Lee added, would be something that Koreans would never forget.
??For the sake of the future relationship, Korea will not be bound by the unfortunate past. But at the same time, the Korean people can never forget the history of the recent past altogether,?? Lee said.
Lee??s comments on Japan were brief but notable for their strong - and deliberate - language, a senior Blue House official said.
??You have to pay attention to how he arranged his words, particularly the part that Koreans can never forget the history,?? the official said on the condition of anonymity.
The president came into office in 2008 vowing to shift the national conversation toward a future-oriented relationship with its former colonial ruler. Last year, Lee renewed his calls for reconciliation ??to develop a new kind of future.??
But relations between the two nations have soured dramatically in recent months, with Japan??s approval of new textbooks as well as its annual defense white paper that repeated its claims over the Dokdo islets. A day before Japan issued its latest white paper, three Japanese lawmakers protesting Korean control of Dokdo attempted to visit a nearby island but were barred from entry.
Lee, despite his sharper words for Japan yesterday, did not mention Dokdo directly, which the Blue House official said was not necessary to do ??because what Lee said ... included his message on Dokdo.??
The aide added that the president had made his position clear on the disputed territory in an April press conference: ??Even if heaven and earth upheaval happens twice, that won??t change the fact that Dokdo is our land.??
Yet the Democratic Party criticized the president for not being sterner on Japan in his speech yesterday.
??Lee??s position was nothing more than a lecture from an ethics teacher,?? DP spokesman Lee Yong-sup said. ??Maybe it is too much to ask of him to face the people??s requests that the time has come for the president to show the Korean people??s self-esteem over Japan??s distortion of history.??
In contrast to media speculation before his address, Lee only briefly touched on North Korea in his speech yesterday, despite expectations that the president would use the opportunity to send a message to the regime.
??Nothing can be accomplished through provocations,?? Lee said, stressing the importance of building mutual trust. He also said that South Korea would continue humanitarian assistance for children and natural disaster victims in the North.
By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿