英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun October 4, 2013
Does Park intend to improve S. Korea’s relations with Japan?
朴大統領発言　日韓関係改善の意思あるのか（10月3日付・読売社説）

Considering South Korean President Park Geun Hye’s recent statements, we cannot help doubting whether she intends to improve relations with Japan.
　対日関係を改善する意思があるのだろうかと、疑わざるを得ない。

In her talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who spoke to her about the importance of security cooperation among Japan, South Korea and the United States, she criticized Japan, saying, “Trust has not been established due to the [Japanese] leadership, which has repeatedly made regressive remarks” on historical and territorial issues.
　日米韓の安保協力の重要性を説いたヘーゲル米国防長官に、韓国の朴槿恵大統領が、「歴史や領土問題で時代逆行発言を繰り返す（日本）指導部のせいで、信頼を築けない」と対日批判を展開した。

Japan-South Korea relations have rapidly deteriorated since last summer, when then President Lee Myung Bak visited the Takeshima islands and made a statement demanding the Emperor apologize for Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Even after the administration in both countries changed, bilateral relations have been chilly.
　日韓関係は、昨年夏の李明博大統領の竹島訪問と天皇謝罪要求の発言以降、急激に悪化し、両国の政権交代後も冷え込んでいる。

Park’s statement that the responsibility for the situation lies with Japan is extremely one-sided. She was also barking up the wrong tree in saying so to a ranking U.S. official.
　その責任が日本にあるという発言は一方的に過ぎよう。米政府高官に主張したのもお門違いだ。

Concerning the so-called comfort women issue, Park said, “Japan has leveled insults against them rather than offering an apology.” We think she is operating under a misconception.
　朴氏は、いわゆる元従軍慰安婦問題では、日本が「謝罪どころか、侮辱している」と述べた。どこかに誤解があるのではないか。

Based on her understanding of the bilateral situation, she said it is difficult to have summit talks with Japan, unless Japan shows a “sincere attitude.” By doing so, she established de facto conditions for holding talks. This is problematic, too. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he always keeps an open door for dialogue.
　その上で、日本が「誠意ある姿勢」を見せない限り首脳会談は難しい、と事実上の条件をつけた点も問題だ。安倍首相は対話のドアは常に開けているとしている。

On its independence movement day in March, just after her inauguration, Park demanded Japan “have a correct understanding of history and take an attitude of responsibility.” She even clearly said, “The hostile dynamic of one party being a perpetrator and the other party a victim will remain unchanged even after 1,000 years have passed.”
　朴氏は大統領就任直後の３月、独立運動記念日に、日本に「歴史を正しく直視し、責任を負う姿勢」を求め、「加害者と被害者の歴史的立場は千年の歴史が流れても変わらない」とまで断言した。

Such statements damage the significance of a statement made in 1965 by her father, then President Park Chung Hee, when Japan-South Korean diplomatic relations were normalized: that South Korea and Japan had been enemies, but it was a thing of the past.
　これでは、朴氏の父親の朴正煕大統領が１９６５年の日韓国交正常化に際して、「韓日は仇敵(きゅうてき)関係だったが、あくまでも過去だ」と述べた意義が損なわれよう。


Questionable diplomacy

It is questionable that Park has been pursuing diplomacy that is particularly focused on Japan’s perception of history.
　訝(いぶか)しいのは、朴氏が日本の歴史認識にことさら焦点を当てる外交を繰り広げていることだ。

During her meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in May, she said Japan needs to have a correct recognition of history. During her speech to the U.S. Congress, she said, “Those who are blind to the past cannot see the future.”
　５月のオバマ米大統領との会談で「日本は正しい歴史認識をもつべきだ」と語り、米国議会では「歴史に目を閉ざす者は未来を見ることができない」と述べた。

In June, during a lunch meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, she proposed the establishment of a memorial to Korean independence activist An Jung Geun, who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the first resident general of Korea under Japan’s colonial rule, at Harbin Station in China’s Heilongjiang Province in 1909. She praised An as a historical figure respected by the peoples of South Korea and China.
　翌月は習近平・中国国家主席との昼食会で、伊藤博文・初代韓国統監をハルビン駅で暗殺した朝鮮独立運動家の安重根を「韓中両国民が尊敬する歴史的人物」とたたえ、記念碑建立を提案した。

Such statements by Park have inflamed anti-Japanese nationalism in her country. During a soccer game between the Japanese and South Korean national teams in June, a huge image of An Jung Geun and a banner reading “A nation that forgets its history has no future” appeared in the South Korean supporters’ seats. This incident must be related to Park’s statements.
　こうした朴氏の言動が、反日ナショナリズムを煽(あお)る結果になっている。７月のサッカー日韓戦で、韓国応援席に安重根の巨大な肖像画と、「歴史を忘れた民族に未来はない」との横断幕が登場したことも、無縁ではあるまい。

In South Korea, two court rulings have been handed down in damages suits in favor of former South Korean workers forcibly employed by Japanese companies during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Such rulings are considered violations of the 1965 bilateral agreement on claims rights. This situation is shaking Japan-South Korean relations, which were normalized decades ago.
　韓国では、日韓請求権協定に反する形で、韓国人元徴用工の損害賠償請求訴訟で日本企業敗訴の判決が相次いでいる。国交正常化後の日韓関係を揺るがす事態だ。

There are many issues that must be jointly tackled by the leaders of Japan and South Korea, such as the nuclear threat from North Korea and how to deal with China, which has been expanding its military and economic power. It is impossible to build a relationship of mutual trust if Park sticks to rehashing settled issues from the past, rather than establishing future-oriented relations.
　日韓には、北朝鮮の核脅威や膨張中国への対処など、首脳同士で取り組むべき課題が多い。朴氏が未来志向よりも過去清算にこだわるなら、信頼関係は築けない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 3, 2013)
（2013年10月3日01時37分 読売新聞）