DP, PPP clash over Yoon government's 'pro-Japanese tendency'

The Democratic Party (DP) and People Power Party (PPP) clashed over the Yoon Suk Yeol government’s policy toward Japan during a National Assembly interpolation session on foreign affairs, unification and national security held Wednesday night.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo answers questions from People Power Party Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun during a National Assembly questioning on foreign affairs, unification and national security at the National Assembly building in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

The Democratic Party (DP) and People Power Party (PPP) clashed over the Yoon Suk Yeol government’s policy toward Japan during a National Assembly interpolation session on foreign affairs, unification and national security held Wednesday night.

The PPP argued that the South Korea-Japan relationship, which had turned hostile under the previous Moon Jae-in administration, had normalized under Yoon, while the DP accused the current administration of having a strong “pro-Japanese tendency.”

“President Yoon opened a breakthrough in South Korea-Japan relations that had worsened under the previous administration,” said PPP Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun during the National Assembly questioning Wednesday. “He met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida 12 times over the past two years to create a major turning point in relations, but the opposition party is disparaging this and focusing on creating division, which is regrettable.”

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun also said that Seoul-Tokyo relations were restored “thanks to Yoon’s decisions” and that “this is evaluated as restoring the spirit of the Joint Declaration of 1998 that was made between former President Kim Dae-jung and former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.”

DP Rep. Jang Kyung-tae criticized the South Korean Navy for saluting a frigate with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force flag — the so-called "Rising Sun flag" — at the International Fleet Review held by Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force in 2022.

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun responded that Japanese ships with the flag have long entered ports as a matter of international custom "and former Presidents Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in also approved this.”

Rep. Jang also clashed with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo over the Yoon administration’s response to the recent registration of the Sado Mines, where Koreans were sent to work as forced laborers during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, as a Unesco World Heritage site.

Rep. Jang claimed that the guidebook placed at the exhibition hall at Aikawa History Museum on the Sado Mines contained content that disparaged Koreans during the Japanese colonial period, to which Han responded that “there are such expressions in one of the guidebooks, but there are also expressions that detail how Korean workers were forcibly mobilized in other guidebooks placed at the exhibition."

Han said that the guidebook containing disparaging comments on Koreans during the colonial period was one of two versions placed at the museum, saying that another guidebook containing the Korean government's stance on the matter is also placed at the same venue.

DP lawmakers responded by saying that Han was speaking “like the Japanese Prime Minister,” to which Han raised his voice, telling lawmakers to “stop insulting me like that” and that “the power of politics that moves the people does not lie in insults and humiliation.”

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, who also spoke during the National Assembly interpolation, said many experts believe North Korea may conduct a nuclear test before the U.S. presidential election in November. Cho’s remarks were in response to a question from PPP Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun.

“Many experts say North Korea will try to attract attention by making a major provocation in some form,” said Cho.

When asked whether there is a possibility of a “big deal” negotiation on denuclearization between North Korea and the United States, Cho said that if Donald Trump were elected, "he would try to talk to Pyongyang in some form,” but added that “the prerequisite is dialogue jointly with the United States and South Korea.”

Cho said he doesn’t think U.S. foreign policy toward South Korea will change depending on whether Trump or Kamala Harris is elected.

Regarding whether the Camp David trilateral summit may be held again this year, Cho said he believed so because the three sides "agreed to hold it every year, and there is a consensus." He added that “diplomatic efforts to maintain the momentum of cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan should continue.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]