| President Moon Jae-in speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Do Je-hae
President Moon Jae-in slammed Japan, again, for connecting historical conflicts with economic issues amid the lingering trade row with the neighboring country during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. He also called on Tokyo to reflect on its wartime history, highlighting the actions of Germany as an example.
“Japan must be honest. It has yet to even state an honest reason for its economic retaliation. No matter what excuse it invokes as justification, it is clear that the Japanese government has linked historical issues to economic matters. I have no other choice but to point out that its attitude is very disingenuous,” Moon said at the start of the meeting, according to Cheong Wa Dae press pool reports.
“Its attitude toward historical issues has been never honest, either. It is an immutable fact that Japan was the perpetrator behind unfortunate chapters of history not only in South Korea but also in many other Asian countries. The attitude of the Japanese government, which neither acknowledges nor repents its past wrongdoings but rather distorts history, only aggravates the wounds and anguish of the victims,” the President added.
Moon stressed it was “very regrettable” to see Tokyo's action to remove Seoul from its whitelist of trusted trade partners. “Crucially, we will take this as an opportunity to catapult the Korean economy onto a new level by enhancing the competitiveness of manufacturing and other industries. We will also, as a sovereign state, resolutely take steps to respond to Japan's unwarranted economic retaliation,” he said.
At the meeting, Moon also criticized Japan for its territorial claims on Dokdo amid a Korea-U.S. row over Korea's recent military exercise on its easternmost islets. “Its preposterous to claim Dokdo, the first part of our territory to fall victim to imperial Japan's aggression. Our position remains unchanged to this day.” ??
In a briefing to reporters after the meeting, presidential spokeswoman Ko Min-jung elaborated on the President's reference to Germany, underlining the actions of past and present German leaders in showing remorse to countries such as Poland that were victims of German aggression. “Compared to this, we ask how honest Japan's leading politicians are in their comments on the country's history,” Ko said.
The President introduced some of the details of his government's 2020 budget to be reviewed by the National Assembly. He said it was focused on building a “strong economy and an unshakable country” amid the growing difficulties faced by the Korean economy due to Japan's trade restrictions.
Moon explained that the budget for next year pays special attention to expanding support for the parts, materials and components sectors that are expected to be affected by Japan's export curbs introduced starting early July.
Regarding his call for Japan to be more honest, Tokyo reiterated its position that the ongoing bilateral tension was mostly because of 2018 Supreme Court rulings on forced laborers during World War II. “We strongly call on Korea to rectify its breach of international law,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in a press conference, the same day.
Cheong Wa Dae has consistently made it clear that South Korea respects the 1965 treaty normalizing diplomatic ties between the two countries.