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By Kim Hyo-jin
President Moon Jae-in offered words of condolences to victims in the Nanjing massacre during his visit to Beijing, Wednesday.
The move is interpreted as his call on Japan to reflect on the past wrongdoing on the day marking 80th anniversary of the Nanjing massacre.
"Koreans are deeply empathetic for this painful incident Chinese went through," Moon said during his meeting with Korean residents in China.
"I and Koreans offer condolences to its victims with sympathy and give words of consolation to those with painful memories."
Moon stressed the similarity in histories of Korea and China where they experienced the Japanese colonial rule.
"Korea and China stepped through a long history together. When China flourished, Korea flourished, and when China declines, Korea declined too," he said.
"The both countries went through hardships caused by imperialism, and waded through the difficult times, fighting against the Japanese colonial rule."
The remark came as Chinese President Xi Jinping was visiting Nanjing for a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the massacre.
Moon's gesture could be sensitive to the Japanese government having denied the responsibility of the war crime in Nanjing.
China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in Nanjing between December 1937 and January 1938. But Japan has downplayed the atrocities by claiming that the number of those killed was not as many and that it was an inevitable act in the wartime.
On the arrival of Moon's flight at a Beijing airport, Korean Ambassador to China, Noh Young-min did not show up. Cheong Wa Dae said that Moon sent Roh to the ceremony for the anniversary of the Nanjing massacre.
