대통령 삼일절 기념사 후속 분석: 징용 관련 현재 분위기 및 한일 정상회담 여부?
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shared his will for a future-oriented Seoul-Tokyo relationship during his speech yesterday commemorating the March 1st Independence Movement.
In light of this, our foreign affairs correspondent Choi Min-jung reports on how key pending issues between the two countries are unfolding.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol defined Japan as a "cooperative partner" at the anniversary ceremony of the March First Independence Movement on Wednesday.
The remark was welcomed by Japan.
At a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno echoed Yoon's sentiments, saying "South Korea is an important neighbor that Japan should cooperate with on global issues".
Despite Seoul and Tokyo's shared views on relations, however, a critical issue still remains unsolved -the compensation of Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor.
Seoul and Tokyo have recently been holding a series of high-level talks over this thorny issue, which is seen as one of the main reasons why relations soured between the two nations.
Although no major breakthrough has been made so far, Seoul's Foreign Ministry says it will ramp up efforts.
"In order to resolve the issue of forced labor, which is a major pending issue, the Korean government is listening to what the victims have to say, and accelerating talks within various diplomatic levels of the foreign ministry in order to seek a reasonable solution."
Japan's financial newspaper, The Nikkei, reported that the Japanese Prime Minister should exercise his leadership and speed up discussions to resolve the issue.
This comes as the paper said Yoon's speech has shown the willingness to mend ties, and therefore, Japan should also consider what it can do.
Rebutting criticism about the speech, an official from South Korea's presidential office stressed the key focus of Wednesday's remarks was to highlight the importance of bilateral cooperation in overcoming security and economic crises.
The official also clarified that the "message of the speech was clear" in emphasizing that the government is focusing on taking a future-oriented path.
Meanwhile, pundits are expecting there to be a Seoul-Tokyo summit sometime in March, but the foreign ministry stated that nothing has been decided as of now.
Choi Min-jung, Arirang News.
#SouthKorea #Japan #한일정상회담 #협력파트너 #Arirang_News
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2023-03-02, 21:00 (KST)
