Kang Chang-il
Kang Chang-il (pictured), the new ambassador to Japan, said on the 17th that “we must seek a political solution” in relation to the historical conflict between Korea and Japan. President Moon Jae-in also said he would like to have a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Ambassador Kang received a letter of credentials from President Moon on the 14th, and is scheduled to take office on the 22nd. He said, “There was a message from President Moon asking him to work hard to normalize relations between Korea and Japan and strengthen the cooperation system between the two countries.” In particular, he said, “President Moon also revealed his will to meet Prime Minister Suga and have a sincere conversation.”
Suga, don’t meet with Nam Kwan-pyo
Controversy over diplomatic rudeness to the Korean ambassador
However, Prime Minister Suga did not interview South Korean Ambassador to Japan Nam Kwan-pyo, who took office on the same day, despite controversy over diplomatic rudeness. Earlier, President Moon met with Japanese Ambassador Tomita Koji, saying, “The two countries need to restore constructive and future-oriented relations early.”
Ambassador Kang also said in relation to the 2015 December 28 Comfort Women Agreement, “the core is that there is the term’irreversible’ and’final’, but the government does not raise a problem, I didn’t raise it.” This is the effect that the government has kept the agreement for a while since the government has never raised the issue of damage to comfort women diplomatically to the Japanese government.
However, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said in January 2018, “The 2015 agreement that did not reflect the will of the victims, the victims of the elderly, cannot be a real solution to the problem of the comfort women victims of the Japanese military. It is virtually denial of the’final and irreversible solution’ contained in the agreement, which is different from Ambassador Kang’s remarks that day.
In this regard, a source said, “It seems that the government, which intends to use the Tokyo Olympics as an opportunity to resume North Korean nuclear negotiations, has changed its existing position in order to obtain cooperation from Japan.”
Reporter Yoo Ji-hye [email protected]