Japan yesterday expressed surprise after South Korean's president called for compensation and an apology for colonial rule, seeing it as a setback for the two countries' improving ties.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he and South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun had agreed to look beyond the bitter legacy of Japan's 1919-1945 occupation of Korea.
"I would imagine there were domestic considerations" that led Roh to ask for a Japanese apology, Koizumi said late yesterday.
"We have agreed that we will be future-oriented, while reflecting on the past," Koizumi said. "We should be forward-looking and think about our friendly ties."
In a speech marking the 86th anniversary of a 1919 uprising against Japanese rule, Roh said Japan should follow the example of post-war Germany and acknowledge its past wrongdoing.
The liberal Asahi Shimbun, which often calls on Japan to confront its wartime ghosts, said Roh's speech "seems all too abrupt."
"We are perplexed by the call for an `apology' and the casual use of the term `compensation,' even though we think seriously about the future of Japan and South Korea," the Asahi said in an editorial.
But the Asahi said Koizumi's regular visits to the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, which honors Japanese war dead including war criminals, was an irritant to improving ties with South Korea.
The conservative Sankei Shimbun said Roh's remarks were reminiscent of statements by Stalinist North Korea, which is defying the world over its nuclear ambitions.
"This [Roh's speech] amounts to an indirect declaration that South Korea is with North Korea on this issue," the Sankei said in a signed commentary by its Seoul bureau chief.
"This may have a subtle influence over the framework for cooperation among Japan, the US and South Korea over North Korea, not to mention future Japan-South Korea ties," it said.
"It was remarkable as it indicated strong anti-Japanese sentiment and nationalism are inside the [Roh] administration," the Sankei said.
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