U.S. applauds Yoon’s overture to Japan after speech

Diplomacy

Published: 02 Mar. 2023, 17:30 Updated: 02 Mar. 2023, 21:07

U.S. applauds Yoon’s overture to Japan after speech

President Yoon Suk Yeol gives an address at a ceremony marking the 104th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement at the Memorial Hall of Yu Gwan-sun in central Seoul Wednesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The United States strongly supports President Yoon Suk Yeol's vision for a cooperative partnership between South Korea and Japan, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday, and "applauds" efforts by the two countries to improve relations.

"We very much support this vision, and we further believe U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation is critical to addressing the challenges that our three countries collectively are confronting in the 21st century," U.S. State Department Press Secretary Ned Price said in a briefing in Washington when asked about Yoon's recent overtures to Japan.

ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

In his March 1 Independence Movement address on Wednesday, Yoon said Japan has "transformed from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner that shares the same universal values with us."

He also stressed the importance of a trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan to overcome North Korea's nuclear threats and other global issues.

In a departure from most of his predecessor's addresses marking the anniversary of Korea's nationwide peaceful demonstrations protesting Japanese colonial rule that began on March 1, 1919, Yoon did not dwell on Japan's wartime atrocities or demand repentance in his speech.

"We do applaud both the Republic of Korea President Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida for their efforts to improve bilateral relations in recent months," Price said in the briefing, referring to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

South Korea and Japan have been working to find a solution to the thorny issue of compensation for Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's colonial rule.

Relations between the two countries, often rocky over historical issues, further deteriorated following two Korean Supreme Court rulings in late 2018 calling on Japanese companies to individually compensate Korean victims of forced labor during World War II. Japan's export restrictions on Korea starting in July 2019 were widely seen as retaliation against these rulings.

Price highlighted the importance of various levels of cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington and said "this is such an important forum for us collectively to address the threats and challenges that the DPRK poses" and valuable in tackling "broader challenges as well as opportunities within the Indo-Pacific region and beyond."

DPRK is the abbreviation for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The United States is "encouraged" that South Korea and Japan are "working together to resolve their history-related issues in a way that promotes healing and reconciliation," Price added, promising to "continue to be a stalwart ally" to both countries.

When asked by a reporter about existing issues between South Korea and Japan, such as a territorial dispute over the Dokdo islets in the East Sea, Price acknowledged that "there remain issues for our allies to work out among themselves."

The United States hopes to "find a productive way forward" to continue the progress that has been seen in the "bilateral context" between Korea and Japan in recent months, Price said. He added this will "allow us to build on the progress that we've seen in the trilateral context between Japan, the ROK and the United States over the course of the past two years.

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, far left, U.S. President Joe Biden, center, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, far right, hold a trilateral summit on the sidelines of Asean meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Nov. 13, 2022. [AP/YONHAP]

Japanese media on Thursday, including Yomiuri Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun, commented on Yoon's description of Japan as a cooperative partner positively.

The Japanese economic daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun analyzed Yoon's address in a front-page editorial Thursday and urged the Japanese government to also make efforts to improve bilateral relations.

It also urged to swiftly resolve with force laborer issue and Japan's export restriction measures to restore trust.

The editorial noted that Yoon drew the line from previous predecessors by not portraying Korea-Japan relations as that of victims and perpetrators.

This comes amid renewed talks between Seoul and Tokyo on the forced labor issue after the Yoon government revealed a plan earlier this year to use a private Korean foundation to compensate the forced labor victims and their families in place of the Japanese companies.

Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, also held a meeting in Munich last month and agreed to maintain close communication to resolve the wartime labor issue as soon as possible. Park said he had urged the Japanese side to make a "political decision," indicating that an agreement could be near.

Earlier this week, Park met with the families of forced labor victims to explain the government's diplomatic efforts to come up with a reasonable solution.

Yoon's address, which took a little over 5 minutes, was shorter than those of his predecessors, made no direct mention of the Japanese military's wartime sexual slavery or forced labor issues in his March 1 address, seen as an intentional move to avoid controversial subjects amid such ongoing discussions with Tokyo.

The Democratic Party (DP) and some civic groups criticized Yoon's address for skirting the issue of Japan's atrocities during its colonial rule over Korea and not demanding its repentance.

The March 1 address has often been an opportunity for both liberal and conservative presidents to give a stern message to Japan to apologize and reflect for its atrocities during its colonial rule over Korea.

Conservative President Park Geun-hye in her first March 1 address in 2013 stressed that the dynamic between a perpetrator and a victim can never be changed and said it "is incumbent on Japan to have a correct understanding of history and take on an attitude of responsibility in order to partner with us."

In his first March 1 address in 2018, President Moon Jae-in used language such as "crimes against humanity" to refer to the so-called comfort women issue.

Moon toned down his language in his March 1 address in 2022, focusing on moving relations forward, but still called on Japan to "squarely face history and be humble before it."

Unlike in his Liberation Day address on Aug. 15, 2022, Yoon made no mention in his March 1 address of "upholding the spirit" of the Kim Dae-jung-Obuchi Declaration, which he had described as a "blueprint of a comprehensive future for Korea-Japan relations."

This refers to the landmark Korea-Japan joint declaration signed between Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in 1998 in which Obuchi acknowledged the "tremendous damage and suffering to the people of the Republic of Korea through its colonial rule" and expressed his "deep remorse and heartfelt apology."

The Democratic Party (DP) criticized Yoon for taking a "subservient" stance toward Japan and called on him to apologize for his speech for denying the spirit of the independence activists.

Park Hong-keun, the DP floor leader, said Thursday the Yoon's remarks "rationalizes Japanese occupation" and said that there "cannot be a normal improvement in relations with a servile diplomacy that takes a one-sidedly submissive attitude without correcting the wrongdoings of the Japanese government."

DP Chairman Lee Jae-myung accused the Yoon government of "humiliating" forced labor victims by making the fight appear to be over money, when it's about getting facts straight, in a rally marking the independence movement on Wednesday. This came in reference to the plan to set up a public foundation to compensate the forced labor victims.

Other groups, like Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun), an association of progressive lawyers, said in a statement Thursday that Yoon "denigrated our history and revealed a distorted view of history on an occasion to commemorate the March 1 movement."

It was especially critical of Yoon's remarks calling to "look back to that time when we lost our national sovereignty; the time when our people suffered because we failed to properly prepare for a changing world," calling out the president for taking on the Japanese government's stance of victim-blaming.

"The key point of the speech yesterday was to emphasize the importance of cooperation between Korea and Japan to overcome security and economic crises," a senior presidential official told reporters Thursday in response to the criticism. "Korea-Japan relations always have many concerns. There is a past, a present and a future. Everything is intertwined, but people of both countries seem to desire to look to the future rather than the past."

The official added, "On the one side, there are forces trying to overcome the past and move towards the future, and on the other side, there are forces that use anti-Japanese and anti-Korean sentiments for political gains. I think the people will be able to determine which side is more concerned about our national interest."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]