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| President Park Geun-hye speaks during a ceremony in Shanghai, Friday, to reopen the building of the former provisional Korean government established during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The provisional government was formed on April 13, 1919, as the Korean government-in-exile, a month after Korea launched an independence movement against Japan. / Yonhap |
President stresses China's role in changing North
By Kang Seung-woo
President Park Geun-hye said Friday that South Korea will begin talks with China about how to achieve peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula as early as possible.
"During the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, we discussed many issues in depth. We talked about how we can work together so we can maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. This took center stage," Park told reporters aboard her flight back to Seoul from Shanghai, China. Park and Xi held their bilateral meeting on Wednesday.
"Peaceful unification is the fundamental and quickest way to resolve North Korea's nuclear weapons program and other issues and we will have discussions on how to bring unification to the peninsula."
Park also said that the Kim Jong-un regime is widely expected to take numerous provocative actions in the future and it is important to deter them.
"China made it clear during the summit that it stands firm against any moves to ratchet up tensions on the Korean Peninsula," the President said, adding that Beijing is willing to cooperate with the South Korean government to handle Pyongyang's provocations.
Late last month, the Koreas avoided a military confrontation, sparked by the North's landmine attack in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Aug. 4, by reaching a deal to defuse tension between the two sides. Still, the North is expected to test-fire a long-range missile around the foundation day of the North's ruling Workers' Party on Oct. 10.
Earlier in the day, Park pledged to achieve peaceful unification to complete a true liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
Attending a reopening ceremony of Korea's provisional government building in Shanghai on the last stop of her three-day trip to China, Park stressed the importance of China's role in changing the North and achieving the reunification of the Koreas.
"I will complete true liberation by achieving a peaceful unification," Park said during a speech at the ceremony.
The building, founded in 1919, was home for the nation's fight against Japanese colonial rule from 1926-1932 and was refurbished over the past three months under an agreement reached at the 2013 summit between Seoul and Beijing. The interim government undertook administrative, diplomatic and military activities in the building.
"I am honored to attend the reopening ceremony for this historic building that now serves as a symbol of the history of the nation's independence movement in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of liberation," Park said.
China took part in revamping the building, shouldering all expenses of about 700 million won ($587,000) in a sign of deepening relations between the two countries.
"The ceremony shows that Korea and China share the historic meaning and value of sites of our independence struggle."
Park is the sixth Korean president to visit the building since the two nations established diplomatic ties in 1992.
China has helped preserve the building and other historic sites related to Korea's independence movement against Japan on the back of stronger ties between Korea and China.
In January of last year, a memorial hall to honor independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun was built in Harbin, China, after Park made a request to the Chinese President. Ahn shot dead Japan's first prime minister, who led the annexation of Korea in 1909.
A monument honoring Korean independence fighters was also built in Xian last year and Korea reopened a memorial hall, dedicated to independence fighter Yun Bong-gil, in Shanghai in April.
Park asked China to play a role in changing the North.
"As shown in the unification of Germany, cooperation from neighboring countries is important. Especially, China needs to play a key role in changing North Korea," she said in a luncheon with some 260 ethnic Koreans in Shanghai.
"I hope all of you will promote our desire for unification and initiatives strongly in order to attract greater cooperation and support from China."
Park said that now is an important time to lay the foundation for unification because this year marks the 70th anniversary of the division of the Korean Peninsula as well as of the liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
"In order to stop the people's longstanding division and clear the ground for the unification, I urgently need your cooperation," Park said.
Since taking office in February 2013, Park has unveiled some provocative and significant policies, such as the Dresden Declaration and the unification bonanza initiative, but North Korea has not responded to them, sticking with moves that provoke tensions on the peninsula.
Considering China's potential role in inter-Korean issues, Park decided to attend China's military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II on Thursday despite potential diplomatic strains with the United States, who shunned the event.
At Wednesday's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Park drew favorable responses regarding China's constructive role in the handling of Pyongyang.
"For peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and ulimately the Korean unification, cooperation from China is vital and recognizing this led to the President's trip to China," a presidential aide said.
At the same time, citing a recent military confrontation between South and North Korea, Park said that the government will try to continue inter-Korean exchanges and talks, while sternly responding to the North's provocations.
Meanwhile, Park renewed calls for the true recognition of history to move ties forward in the region in an interview with China's People's Daily.
"The countries in the region need to make joint efforts to move toward a new future based on the proper recognition of history," Park said. "On that premise, sufferings of the past can be healed and overcome."
Although she did not identify what that history is, her remarks seem to point to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who failed to make his own apology for Japan's wartime aggression in the Aug. 14 speech that also marked the end of World War II.
In addition, his Cabinet has deferred to the revisionist views of the history that have prevented him from meeting with President Park.
"As history remains permanent, denying history is like attempting to cover up the heavens with a palm, overestimating his own ability," Park said.
