South Korea's president challenged Japan yesterday to live up to its apology for its colonial past by halting repeated visits by Japanese leaders to a controversial shrine that honors war criminals.
Relations between Japan and South Korea have seriously frayed in recent years over several history issues, including Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the war shrine that critics say glosses over the country's wartime atrocities.
"Japan has already apologized. We do not demand they apologize again," South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said in a nationally televised address marking Korea's March 1, 1919, uprising against Japanese colonial rule. "We demand that they put their apology into practice. We oppose any act that in effect retracts an apology."
South Korea and China have urged Koizumi to stop visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, which also honors convicted war criminals, because they view those visits as a sign that Japan hasn't fully repented for its past, despite its leaders' numerous apologies.
"In this regard, it is natural for the Korean people to be concerned whether Japan would justify her history of invasion and colonization and take the path of hegemony once again," Roh said.
Koizumi defends his visits to the shrine, contending that a country's leader has the right to express respect to the nation's war dead, and that his visits to the Yasukuni Shrine merely show his resolve that Japan should never wage war again.
Roh rebuffed Koizumi's argument, saying what a country's leader does should be judged based on whether that is "proper in light of universal conscience and historical experience."
In response, Koizumi said he wants Roh to "closely observe the path Japan has taken over the last 60 years after the war and work closely for the friendly ties between Japan and South Korea."
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe also urged Roh to carefully look at Japan's commitment to peace and focus on the future, not the past.
"I think further developing a future-oriented relationship between Japan and South Korea will serve the national interest of both countries," he said.
Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910 to 1945. During the time, many Koreans were forced into front-line labor or sexual slavery in military-run brothels.
On March 1, 1919, hundreds of thousands of Koreans rose up for independence against Japan.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS