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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 06, 2003

News Analysis: Historical Issue Casts Clouds over Roh Moo-hyun's Japan Visit

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun headed for Tokyo to pay his first state visit to Japan on Friday, but Japan's stance on the wartime past casts clouds over his trip.


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South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun headed for Tokyo to pay his first state visit to Japan on Friday, but Japan's stance on the wartime past casts clouds over his trip.

It is the second foreign trip of Roh Moo-hyun, who completed a seven-day working visit in the United States in May.

On top of the agenda of his four-day stay in Tokyo are the discussion of the contingency bills passed by the Japanese diet (parliament), the solution of the dispute over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program, as well as Seoul-Tokyo bilateral economic cooperation.

He will meet Japanese Emperor Akihito and be the guest at a banquet at Tokyo's Imperial Palace hosted by the emperor and Empress Michiko on the first day of his visit.

Roh and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi are scheduled to hold a summit meeting on Saturday.

Apparently, Roh chose Tokyo as his second foreign trip stop out of his desire to strengthen and deepen Seoul's friendship with the neighboring country, which is often regarded as "geographically close but psychologically distant."

Coinciding with Roh's arrival in Tokyo, the Japanese House of Councillors, or the upper house of parliament, endorsed the three controversial contingency bills, designed to expand the powers of the prime minister and its armed forces in the event of an foreign attack, which the lower house already approved in mid-May.

The bills are widely seen a digression from Japan's peace constitution enacted after the World War II, which prohibits "the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes," and denies "the right of belligerency of the state."

South Korea's apprehension over this move of Japan was made clear. Roh Moo-hyun utilized several chances to express his concerns over bills and deplored "Japan's failure to seek an understanding from neighboring countries."

"Given the sensitive nature of the matter, Japan should have consulted with China and other neighboring countries ... South Korea is also concerned about the bills," the president said when talking to Japanese reporters stationed here. Roh said he would convey "South Korea's position on such issues into words at an appropriate time" during his Japan trip.

The heavy pressure from domestic political parties and civic groups on such issues also pushed the president to expound his stance expressly.

"It runs against diplomatic protocol for the Japanese parliament to pass the bills, which was criticized as bills on war preparation," the ruling Millennium Democratic Party said in a statement, while the opposition Grand National Party condemned Roh's schedule to meet Japanese emperor on Friday, the Memorial Day in South Korea commemorating the dead during various wars in past time.

Furthermore, outraged by a Japanese political party official who claimed "Koreans wanted to change their names to Japanese ones under Japan's colonial rule of Korean Peninsular," local civic groups called on Roh to cancel his visit to Tokyo.

Koizumi also angered South Korean people by his sudden visit to the Yasukuni Shrine this January, where about 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including convicted war criminals, are honored.

Up to now, many South Korean people still harbor deep resentment against Japan for its harsh colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula (1910-1945), when many girls were forced to serve as sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese "school textbook" issue also aroused anti-Japanese sentiment here, for the Japanese government wanted to white wash its aggressive history in the middle school history textbooks.

But Roh hopes the above-mentioned negative factors not to hinder "future-oriented" relations between the two nations. Despite some controversy, Roh Moo-hyun decided to go ahead with the trip as schedule, which may suggest he highly evaluates Seoul-Tokyo ties.

To coordinate mutual stance over the DPRK nuclear standoff will be another major topic of Roh and Koizumi's meeting and a main point in the joint statement to be released after the two leaders' talks.

Before his departure for Tokyo on Friday, Roh Moo-hyun said in a speech delivered at the Memorial Day ceremony that "Cooperation with Japan is very important to a peaceful resolution of the DPRK nuclear issue."

Since the nuclear issue erupted last October, Seoul and Tokyo have been trying to play an important role during the consultation among the concerned countries to seek the solution of the issue.

Both South Korea and Japan are in favor of resolving the DPRK nuclear issue peacefully through "multilateral" dialogue, insisting that a nuclear-armed DPRK should not be allowed under any circumstances.

The two leaders are expected to reiterated such a stance in the joint statement.

The ties between South Korea and Japan have improved a lot since former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung paid a visit to Japan in 1998, during which the two countries outlined new relations for the 21st century.

And the joint host of the 2002 Soccer World Cup by the two countries brought their mutual friendship to a new peak.

Now, Japan is South Korea's second largest trading partner, while South Korea is Japan's third biggest, with their bilateral trade volume standing at 45 billion US dollars last year.

The South Korean president, who had built mutual trust with his US counterpart George W. Bush during his week-long US visit, now hopes to realize another successful trip in Japan, promoting bilateral ties with the important neighbor, despite various negative factors.


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