Japan changed from 'aggressor' to 'partner' with shared universal values: President Yoon

• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

President Yoon Suk Yeol extended another olive branch to mend relations between South Korea and Japan, saying Tokyo has "transformed from a militaristic aggressor into a partner" during his March 1 Independence Movement Day speech, Wednesday.

"Now, more than a century after the March 1 Independence Movement, Japan has transformed itself from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner that shares universal values with us," Yoon said during a ceremony to commemorate the peaceful protest that took place in 1919 to resist Japan's colonial rule.

Yoon said the trilateral security cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington to counter North Korea's nuclear threats was one of the fields in which the two countries are working together to address global challenges, adding that South Korea should "stand in solidarity with countries sharing universal values."

"This spirit of solidarity and cooperation is the same spirit that called for our nation's freedom and independence 104 years ago," Yoon said.

In his speech, which lasted slightly over five minutes, Yoon did not make any remarks that could be interpreted as a demand for Japan's apology for its past actions.

This contrasts starkly with the Independence Movement Day speech made by Yoon's predecessor, Moon Jae-in, in 2018, calling on Japan to issue an apology as a "perpetrator" of "crimes against humanity."

Since Yoon took office in May last year, he has been making efforts to mend ties between the two countries, holding multiple summits with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

In line with this direction, Yoon also did not mention pending bilateral issues, such as compensating Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor.

The forced labor issue is one of the key reasons that the two countries' relations deteriorated in recent years. In 2018, separate rulings by Seoul's Supreme Court ordered Japanese firms to compensate 15 Korean victims, but no payments have been made yet, causing bilateral relations to chill during the past five years.

However, since the inauguration of the Yoon administration, Seoul and Tokyo have held several rounds of working-level consultations on ways to resolve the forced labor issue, and the South Korean government dropped hints at a plan last month to compensate the victims through its own public foundation, instead of using funds from Japanese companies, despite outcries from some victims.

However, Japan has yet to show any progress in whether it will allow its companies to...