| 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.
Korean Language
朴대통령 "北 올바른 변화 위해 중국이 중요역할 해야"
박근혜 대통령은 4일 '과거 독일 통일의 사례에서도 보았듯이 우리가 통일을 하려면 주변국의 협력이 매우 중요하고, 특히 북한의 올바른 변화를 이끌어내는 데는 중국이 중요한 역할을 해줘야 한다'고 밝혔다.
박 대통령은 중국 방문 마지막 날인 이날 낮 중국 상하이(上海) 시내 호텔에서 인근 지역 동포 260여명을 초청해 오찬간담회를 하고 '동포 여러분께서 우리의 통일 염원과 정책을 주변에 적극 알려주셔야 중국의 더 큰 협력과 지원도 끌어낼 수 있다'며 이같이 말했다.
박 대통령은 '금년은 대한민국이 광복 70주년이자 분단 70년을 맞는 역사적인 해'라며 '저는 우리 민족이 기나긴 분단의 아픔을 극복하고, 한반도 통일 시대를 열어가는 길에 동포 여러분의 협력이 매우 중요하다고 생각한다'고 강조했다.
이어 박 대통령은 8.25 남북합의와 관련, '북한의 지뢰 도발로 발생한 일촉즉발의 위기상황에서 정부는 일관되게 원칙을 지키면서 북한과의 합의를 이끌어 냈다'며 '당시 국민의 안위를 위협하고, 안보불안을 야기하는 행위에 대해 다시는 이런 일이 반복되지 않도록 해야겠다는 의지로 임했다'고 설명했다.
그러면서 박 대통령은 '앞으로 정부는 북한의 도발에는 단호하게 대응하되 대화와 교류는 계속 이어가기 위해 노력할 것'이라며 '조만간 이산가족 상봉을 재개하고, 남북간 교류와 협력을 지속적으로 확대해 나가면서 통일을 위한 실질적 준비도 해나갈 계획'이라고 말했다.
아울러 박 대통령은 상하이 임시정부 청사 재개관식에 참석한 것과 관련, '상하이 임시정부 청사는 조국의 국권 회복을 위해 헌신하셨던 선열들의 숨결이 생생하게 담겨있는 곳'이라며 '비록 3층의 소박한 건물이었지만 그곳에서 대한민국 법통이 시작됐고, 이봉창 의사, 윤봉길 의사의 의거를 비롯한 다양한 독립 투쟁의 근거지가 됐다'고 밝혔다.
박 대통령은 '상하이 임시정부의 정신은 계속 이어져 1940년대 광복군 창설에 이어 대한민국 건국강령 반포와 카이로 선언을 이끌어 낸 외교활동까지 전개할 수 있었다'며 '임시정부 청사가 자랑스러운 역사를 계승하는 훌륭한 교육의 장이 될 수 있도록 동포 여러분께서도 관심과 지원을 보내주시기 바란다'고 당부했다.
또한, 박 대통령은 '상하이를 포함한 화동지역과 한국 간 교역규모는 한·중 전체 교역액의 3분의1 이상을 차지하고 있고 많은 우리 기업들이 상하이에 꾸준히 진출하고 있다'며 '한국과 상하이의 인적, 물적 교류가 확대되고, 오늘과 같은 발전을 이뤄낼 수 있었던데에는 동포 여러분의 헌신이 있었기에 가능했다'고 격려했다.
이날 간담회에는 우리 독립운동에 기여한 중국인 독립유공자 저보성 선생의 후손 저정원씨가 참석했다. 박 대통령은 저정원씨에게 조부가 대한민국 독립에 큰 기여를 한 점에 대해 감사를 표명하고 독립유공자 후손으로 한중 관계의 가교 역할을 해주길 당부했다.
박 대통령은 또 중국 최대 인터넷 전자상거래 업체인 알리바바의 한국인 인턴 1기생 대표로 간담회에 참석한 이은혜씨에게 한국 청년의 저력을 보여주고 후배의 모범이 되도록 노력해달라고 말했다. (연합뉴스)