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| ▲ In this file photo, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Chung Woo-taik (R) speaks with Foreign Minister Park Jin at the National Assembly in Seoul on April 12, 2023. |
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| ▲ Main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung speaks at a Supreme Council Meeting held at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 3, 2023. |
parties-Kishida visit
Ruling party heaps praise on Yoon for breakthrough in relations with Japan
By Kang Jae-eun
SEOUL, May 3 (Yonhap) -- The ruling People Power Party (PPP) praised President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday for making a breakthrough in long-stalled relations with Japan after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced he will visit South Korea this weekend.
Kishida, set to arrive Sunday for a two-day trip, will be the first Japanese prime minister to make a bilateral visit to South Korea in 12 years, and represents the latest sign that the relations between the two countries, long frayed over forced labor and other historical issues, are warming.
The trip reciprocates a visit Yoon made to Tokyo in March after offering to resolve the issue of wartime forced labor by compensating victims without contributions from Japan. It marks the resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" of the leaders of the two countries visiting each other at least once a year.
"This represents starting future-oriented relations between the two countries by putting shuttle diplomacy into operation in earnest," PPP spokesperson Kang Min-kuk said. "President Yoon's courageous decision from a broader viewpoint has become a new starting point for relations between South Korea and Japan."
"It is the right time to cooperate with Japan for mutual interests, and peace and development of the international community in the face of threats from North Korea's ever-advancing nuclear program," the lawmaker said.
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Chung Woo-taik of the PPP also described Yoon's summit with Kishida, set for Sunday, as a "diplomatic accomplishment," saying it will provide "momentum" in repairing frayed ties with Japan.
"It is the time for the Japanese prime minister to muster up courage," Chung said in a social media post. "He should show sincerity in apology and remorse beyond the level shown in March of inheriting the perceptions of past Japanese governments so as to open a new future in Korea-Japan relations."
Rep. Chung Kyung-hee of the PPP also said normalizing relationships with Japan should be the country's "No.1 task" and South Korea should strengthen trilateral security cooperation with the United States and Japan in order to contain threats from North Korea, China and Russia.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP), however, strongly criticized Yoon's diplomacy toward Japan, claiming Yoon has given Tokyo too many concessions in exchange for little and urging him not to repeat the same mistake.
"In this Korea-Japan summit, I hope the mistakes of the previous summit riddled with disgrace and humiliation won't be repeated," Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the DP, said during a meeting of the party's Supreme Council.
Lee also stressed that the two leaders should reconsider the solution to the forced labor issue from square one, and that Kishida should offer a sincere apology to South Korean people and victims of the forced labor.
Lee also urged Japan to call off its plan to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant crippled by an earthquake and a tsunami in 2011, and agree to a joint investigation by experts of the two countries.
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