Yoon, Kishida receive Kennedy’s ‘Profile in Courage Award’

The U.S.-based John F. Kennedy Library Foundation jointly awarded Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for their efforts to improve bilateral relations despite ongoing historical issues on Sunday.

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol gives an acceptance speech through a prerecorded video after being awarded the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation's Profile in Courage Award alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a ceremony at the Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston on Sunday. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

The U.S.-based John F. Kennedy Library Foundation jointly awarded Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for their efforts to improve bilateral relations despite ongoing historical issues on Sunday.

The foundation presented the two leaders with the International Profile in Courage Award "for working to improve relations between their countries despite domestic opposition stemming from historical issues" in a ceremony held at the Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, the presidential office said Monday.

"I know that this award is a reminder of my solemn duty — a profound sense of responsibility placed upon the Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan to promote freedom and prosperity around the world by standing together in solidarity," Yoon said in a video acceptance speech.

He said he is "even more privileged" to share the honor with his "dear friend" Prime Minister Kishida.

Yoon also highlighted his respect for former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and the values he stood for, including courage, determination to accomplish social progress and scientific advancement — the spirit of the "New Frontier."

"He showed us that only those with real courage can bring about innovation and reform," Yoon said about the American president.

The event was attended by some 450 political and business figures, including U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president and former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and a former top envoy to Japan, and Staples CEO Ron Sargent, board chairman of the foundation.

Korean Ambassador to the United States Cho Hyun-dong received the award on behalf of Yoon and Japanese Consulate-General Kotaro Suzuki for Kishida.

U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, second from left, and her son Jack Schlossberg, left, and daughter Tatiana Schlossberg, right, present the International Profile in Courage award for Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, accepted by Korean Ambassador to the United States Cho Hyun-dong, third from right, Takeo Mori, adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, and Kotaro Suzuki, consul general of Japan in Boston, during a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, Sunday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Kishida, in turn, said political leaders "are vested with the responsibility to make our peoples' ties the solid foundation of peace and to aspire for a tomorrow that is better than today, not only by words but also by taking action" adding he will is "determined to fulfill this responsibility, working together" with U.S. President Joe Biden and President Yoon.

Seoul and Tokyo normalized bilateral relations that had deteriorated in recent years over historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and a trade spat.

The improvement came after the Yoon administration offered a plan to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor in March through a Korea-backed public foundation, which was met with mixed reactions domestically.

Yoon's bilateral visit to Tokyo for a summit with Kishida on March 16, the first trip of its kind in 12 years, led to a resumption of so-called shuttle diplomacy between the two countries' leaders, including a return trip by Kishida to Seoul in May.

On Aug. 18, Yoon and Kishida joined Biden at Camp David, near Washington, to "solidify a historic level of trilateral cooperation" between the United States and "two of its most important democratic allies," the foundation said.

It added the trilateral summit was made possible "because the leaders of South Korea and Japan have courageously worked to address sensitive historical issues that have prevented close cooperation."

The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award was created in 1989 by members of President Kennedy's family to recognize and celebrate political courage.

Previous recipients include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. President George H.W. Bush.

This year's Profile in Courage recipients included five women Senators from South Carolina for forming a bipartisan coalition to filibuster a near-total abortion ban in their state.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]