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| President Yoon Suk-yeol pays tribute at a memorial altar for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Japanese embassy's Public Information and Cultural Center in Jongno District, central Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of presidential office |
Visit to altar seen as attempt to mend ties with Japan
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday visited a memorial altar set up at the Japanese embassy's cultural center in Seoul and paid tribute to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated during a campaign speech in the Japanese city of Nara on Friday.
The move is part of the president's efforts to improve Seoul-Tokyo relations, which have gone from bad to worse during the previous Moon Jae-in government as a spat over historical issues intensified.
According to the presidential office, Yoon expressed his condolences at Abe's memorial altar set up at the Japanese embassy's Public Information and Cultural Center in Jongno District, central Seoul. Abe was Japan's longest-serving prime minister.
Yoon wrote on a guestbook at the memorial altar that he hopes Abe, who devoted himself to the progress and development of Asia, "rest in peace." The Korean president added that he "hopes Korea and Japan, the closest neighbors, will cooperate closely in the future."
According to presidential spokesperson Kang In-sun, Yoon told Japanese Ambassador to Korea Koichi Aiboshi that he was "shocked" by the former prime minister's death and delivered his deep condolences to the bereaved family and the Japanese public.
"We hope the president's visit to the altar will be an opportunity reconfirming that Korea and Japan are close neighbors sharing values and rules," Kang said in a statement. "Also, we hope this would be the new starting point for bilateral relations."
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| President Yoon Suk-yeol leaves a message on a guest book at a memorial altar for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Japanese embassy's Public Information and Cultural Center in Jongno District, central Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of presidential office |
Yoon's visit came after he expressed several times his intention to mend ties with Japan.
When he attended the 2022 NATO Summit in Spain last month, Yoon said he wants to "resolve issues that stand in the way of improving Seoul-Tokyo ties as soon as possible after Japan's upper house election," and described incumbent Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as "a partner who can work together to resolve bilateral issues."
Korea will also send a delegation to Japan to attend Abe's funeral. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will lead that delegation.
The Korean president's visit to the memorial of the late former Japanese prime minister is a rare event in the history of the two countries.
In 2000, then-Korean President Kim Dae-jung visited Tokyo and attended the funeral service of former Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died while serving his term.
Kim and Obuchi were close as they announced the Korea-Japan Joint Declaration in 1998, in which the two countries agreed on future-oriented relations based on Japan's recognition of the damage and suffering caused during its past colonial rule over Korea. During his presidential election campaign, Yoon pledged to improve Seoul-Tokyo relations by reaffirming the 1998 declaration.
This is the only case of an incumbent Korean president visiting the funeral of a Japanese prime minister.
Other than that, a number of former prime ministers, and lawmakers of Japan had attended the funerals of Korean presidents until 2015. However, Japan did not send delegations to the funeral services of former Presidents Roh Tae-woo in October last year and Chun Doo-hwan a month later, after the two countries' relations soured in 2019.
Against this backdrop, Yoon's visit to Abe's altar is interpreted as an effort to maintain the momentum for talks with Japan.
Korea's relations with Japan slumped to its lowest level after Japan began restricting exports of key industrial materials to Korea in 2019, in an apparent retaliation against the Supreme Court's ruling here ordering Japanese companies to compensate surviving Korean victims of wartime forced labor.
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| President Yoon Suk-yeol shakes hands with Japanese Ambassador to Korea Koichi Aiboshi during a visit to the Japanese embassy's Public Information and Cultural Center in Jongno District, central Seoul, Tuesday, to pay his respects to deceased former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a memorial altar. Yonhap |
