ID :
80117
Wed, 09/16/2009 - 00:30
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/80117
The shortlink copeid
S. Korean president hopes for emperor's visit next year
+
SEOUL, Sept. 15 Kyodo -
South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said Tuesday he hopes Japanese Emperor
Akihito will visit South Korea next year to ''put an end to the sense of
distance'' between the two countries as 2010 marks a century since Japan's
annexation of the Korean Peninsula.
Lee also expressed strong hope for the development of bilateral relations under
the incoming Japanese government of Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio
Hatoyama.
''I hope relations between the two countries will make a leap toward a higher
level where we can trust each other completely,'' he said in an interview with
Kyodo News at the presidential Blue House on the eve of the launch of the
government to be led by Hatoyama.
Lee also said North Korea may reach out to the new Japanese government
following its conciliatory gestures to the United States and South Korea.
But he stressed the need for each member of the six-party talks on North
Korea's nuclear ambitions to take united action on North Korea to achieve the
talks' goal of getting the North to abandon its nuclear programs and he
expressed caution on possible progress in dialogue between Japan and North
Korea without addressing the nuclear issue.
''If Japan offers economic cooperation in exchange for the settlement of the
issue of abducted Japanese citizens, it would not get North Korea to abandon
its nuclear weapons,'' he said.
Lee expressed hope South Korea will deepen ties with Japan and settle
historical issues under the Hatoyama government, paving the way for a visit by
the emperor to South Korea next year.
''A visit by the emperor would provide an opportunity to put an end to the
sense of distance between the two countries,'' he said.
At the same time, however, he said it is ''very important to see in what stance
the emperor will visit,'' indicating the emperor needs to make some remarks
expressing his regret over Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean
Peninsula.
Issues stemming from differences of interpretations of Japan's colonization of
the Korean Peninsula still linger as potential problems for the two countries.
Lee asked the emperor to visit South Korea when he visited Tokyo in April last
year, but this is the first time for a South Korean president to mention a
specific date for a visit by the emperor, according to the South Korean
presidential office.
South Korea has extended invitations to the Japanese emperor to visit on
numerous occasions since 1990, but the Japanese government has always declined,
citing bilateral disagreements and disputes over historical issues.
Lee, who met Hatoyama in Seoul shortly after he became DPJ chief in May, said
he is confident South Korea can develop relations with Japan to a higher level.
Commenting on Hatoyama, Lee said, ''I felt he is a person who can do that.''
Hatoyama's DPJ won a landslide victory in the Aug. 30 election, putting an end
to the Liberal Democratic Party's more than 50 years of virtual one-party rule
in Japan.
Japan has often had tense ties with South Korea under the LDP over issues of
colonial and wartime history.
But Hatoyama has vowed to ''look squarely'' at history and not to visit Tokyo's
Yasukuni Shrine.
The Shinto shrine, which honors convicted war criminals along with Japan's war
dead, is viewed by South Koreas as a symbol of the Japan's past militarism.
Referring to a series of recent conciliatory moves by North Korea, Lee said,
''North Korea has been embarrassed, feeling stronger-than-expected effects''
from U.N. Security Council sanctions tightened after Pyongyang conducted a
second nuclear test in May.
While ''receiving economic cooperation and buying time'' through the
conciliatory gestures, North Korea is trying to ''make the possession of
nuclear arms an accomplished fact,'' he said, calling on members of six-party
talks to continue to stand together against the North's nuclear ambitions.
The six-party denuclearization talks involve North and South Korea, the United
States, China, Japan and Russia.
Lee also said South Korea wants to make bilateral cooperation more
comprehensive in coping with the global financial crisis and promote economic
growth through environmentally friendly projects with Japanese technological
assistance.
==Kyodo
2009-09-15 22:53:34
SEOUL, Sept. 15 Kyodo -
South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said Tuesday he hopes Japanese Emperor
Akihito will visit South Korea next year to ''put an end to the sense of
distance'' between the two countries as 2010 marks a century since Japan's
annexation of the Korean Peninsula.
Lee also expressed strong hope for the development of bilateral relations under
the incoming Japanese government of Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio
Hatoyama.
''I hope relations between the two countries will make a leap toward a higher
level where we can trust each other completely,'' he said in an interview with
Kyodo News at the presidential Blue House on the eve of the launch of the
government to be led by Hatoyama.
Lee also said North Korea may reach out to the new Japanese government
following its conciliatory gestures to the United States and South Korea.
But he stressed the need for each member of the six-party talks on North
Korea's nuclear ambitions to take united action on North Korea to achieve the
talks' goal of getting the North to abandon its nuclear programs and he
expressed caution on possible progress in dialogue between Japan and North
Korea without addressing the nuclear issue.
''If Japan offers economic cooperation in exchange for the settlement of the
issue of abducted Japanese citizens, it would not get North Korea to abandon
its nuclear weapons,'' he said.
Lee expressed hope South Korea will deepen ties with Japan and settle
historical issues under the Hatoyama government, paving the way for a visit by
the emperor to South Korea next year.
''A visit by the emperor would provide an opportunity to put an end to the
sense of distance between the two countries,'' he said.
At the same time, however, he said it is ''very important to see in what stance
the emperor will visit,'' indicating the emperor needs to make some remarks
expressing his regret over Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean
Peninsula.
Issues stemming from differences of interpretations of Japan's colonization of
the Korean Peninsula still linger as potential problems for the two countries.
Lee asked the emperor to visit South Korea when he visited Tokyo in April last
year, but this is the first time for a South Korean president to mention a
specific date for a visit by the emperor, according to the South Korean
presidential office.
South Korea has extended invitations to the Japanese emperor to visit on
numerous occasions since 1990, but the Japanese government has always declined,
citing bilateral disagreements and disputes over historical issues.
Lee, who met Hatoyama in Seoul shortly after he became DPJ chief in May, said
he is confident South Korea can develop relations with Japan to a higher level.
Commenting on Hatoyama, Lee said, ''I felt he is a person who can do that.''
Hatoyama's DPJ won a landslide victory in the Aug. 30 election, putting an end
to the Liberal Democratic Party's more than 50 years of virtual one-party rule
in Japan.
Japan has often had tense ties with South Korea under the LDP over issues of
colonial and wartime history.
But Hatoyama has vowed to ''look squarely'' at history and not to visit Tokyo's
Yasukuni Shrine.
The Shinto shrine, which honors convicted war criminals along with Japan's war
dead, is viewed by South Koreas as a symbol of the Japan's past militarism.
Referring to a series of recent conciliatory moves by North Korea, Lee said,
''North Korea has been embarrassed, feeling stronger-than-expected effects''
from U.N. Security Council sanctions tightened after Pyongyang conducted a
second nuclear test in May.
While ''receiving economic cooperation and buying time'' through the
conciliatory gestures, North Korea is trying to ''make the possession of
nuclear arms an accomplished fact,'' he said, calling on members of six-party
talks to continue to stand together against the North's nuclear ambitions.
The six-party denuclearization talks involve North and South Korea, the United
States, China, Japan and Russia.
Lee also said South Korea wants to make bilateral cooperation more
comprehensive in coping with the global financial crisis and promote economic
growth through environmentally friendly projects with Japanese technological
assistance.
==Kyodo
2009-09-15 22:53:34
