Press Briefing
Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations Cho Tai-young
Feb. 25, 2014 14:30 KST


Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

Today, I have two announcements to make.

First, Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin of Myanmar will visit the Republic of Korea from February 25 through 27. The upcoming visit to the ROK by Minister Lwin will mark the first of its kind by a Myanmarese Foreign Minister since the launch of the Park Geun-hye government.

On February 27, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will meet with his Myanmarese counterpart.

Moving on to the second and last announcement, a workshop and meetings with US government officials on the ROK government’s Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative will take place in Washington DC on February 27 and 28.

The ROK delegation to the workshop will be led by the Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Lee Kyung-soo and consist of Lee Sang-Hyun, Director of the Security Studies Program at the Sejong Institute; Choi Kang, Vice President for Research at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies; and Han Seok-hee, a professor at Yonsei University.

The US participants will include former Commander of US Forces Korea John Tilelli; a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Robert Einhorn; a professor at Georgetown University Victor Cha; and a senior researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Scott Snyder.

At the forthcoming workshop, the two sides will discuss the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative and the changing security environment in Northeast Asia.

This is all for my opening statement.


[Q&A]

Q: A meeting of economy-related ministers took place at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae earlier today, which I heard the Foreign Minister attended as well. Please share with us the main agenda of the meeting as well as the remarks by the Foreign Minister there.

A: Are you referring to the meeting of economy-related ministers held at Cheong Wa Dae? I have not heard about its outcome. As it was a meeting of economy-relate ministers, I believe that the government agencies in direct charge of economic matters would provide a briefing on the outcome. I, for my part, have not heard about it.

Q: My question relates to the first anniversary of the inauguration of President Park Geun-hye. What do you consider the most significant diplomatic achievement in the first year under the presidency of Madame Park?

A: Well. I understand that the media community already and widely evaluated the diplomatic achievements yesterday and today. Instead of sharing with you a self-evaluation, let me just tell you that there were such evaluations.

Q: President Park made remarks at Cheong Wa Dae earlier today with regard to launching a preparatory committee for unification, saying that the committee would also include civilian experts in foreign affairs and security and make efforts toward unification. What, if any, have relevant government agencies consulted on in terms of the nature of this committee? What role will the Foreign Ministry play on this committee, if and when launched, in the field of foreign affairs?

A: I guess I cannot but give you a similar answer. I have read a press report that the committee would be established as a body under direct control of the President. I do not deem that the Foreign Ministry is in a position to give you such relevant details as its nature, although I would like to tell you that the Foreign Ministry, as a relevant government body, will play an active role on the committee.

Q: Three lawmakers of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee visited the ROK Consulate General in Shenyang today to look into the case involving the documents regarding a Seoul Metropolitan Government official Yoo Woo-sung, which the Chinese government had determined had been fabricated. In what ways is the ROK Foreign Ministry cooperating in this regard?

A: The ROK Foreign Ministry has been giving explanations on this case. It is my understanding that explanations were given to the press and at the National Assembly as needed. As I understand it, lawmakers of the Democratic Party are currently on a visit to Shenyang. We will wait for the result of their investigation. I hear that the Foreign Ministry is extending cooperation to the lawmakers as needed.

A: Were there cases in the past where lawmakers visited the ROK’s overseas diplomatic missions -- embassies or consulates general -- to conduct probes of their own while fact-finding missions were under way by the prosecution?

A: Well, I have to check whether there were such cases, although I cannot think of one off the top of my head. Anyway, the Foreign Ministry is extending cooperation necessary for the investigation and will continue to do so.

Q: Have the public security authorities of Jilin Province responded to the request made by the Consulate General in Shenyang last week to verify the authenticity of the border-crossing records of Mr. Yoo?

A: Could you repeat your question more clearly?

Q: The ROK Consulate General in Shenyang requested last week that the public security authorities of Jilin Province confirm whether the border-crossing records of Mr. Yoo had indeed been forged. I would like to know whether the Chinese has responded to that request.

A: I recall answering that same question the other day. The ROK prosecution announced its plan to investigate this case in a thorough manner, and I understand that the investigation is currently under way. I believe that a comprehensive explanation will be provided after this fact-finding mission is completed. Please wait until the mission is wrapped up.

Q: I remember this question being asked and hearing you answer that. Let me ask it once again just to make sure. Will Mount Geumgang tours, when resumed, constitute a violation of the sanctions under the UN Security Council resolution on North Korea adopted in response to the third nuclear test by the country? Will it in any way? What does the ROK Foreign Ministry think?

A: As I recall it, relevant sanctions from the UN Security Council and Mount Geumgang tours are not related to each other.

Q: The US Congressional Research Service issued a report today expressing regret that the chilled ROK-Japan relations hurt the US interests. What does the ROK Foreign Ministry make of this view?

A: Similar questions are often raised. The strained ROK-Japan relations are not something that the ROK government wants. Instead, the ROK government wants to be in good relations with Japan. In that vein, the ROK government is saying a deep look into the cause of the strained bilateral relations is necessary.

Words and actions by some political leaders and sometimes the government of Japan are straining the ROK-Japan relations. In terms of specific examples of such words and actions, I believe you reporters right here and those viewing this briefing session online can remember them vividly without my mentioning each and every one of them.

The party that caused the current situation should solve it by removing the cause through trustworthy actions. That I believe is the way to unstrain and move the ROK-Japan relations forward. That will alleviate the US concern you have referred to.

Q: With regard to the so-called “Takeshima Day” event held in Japan last weekend, you, as Spokesperson of the ROK Foreign Ministry, issued a statement expressing the ROK government’s intent to continue making efforts to “let the whole world know Japan’s historical revisionist move.”

Does the ROK government plan to actively appeal to the international community with regard to not only the issue of Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II but also the Dokdo/Takeshima issue?

The Chinese government is working to raise international awareness on the Nanjing Massacre and other atrocities Japan committed during World War II. Does the ROK government plan to work with the Chinese side in this regard down the road?

A: For starters, you have just referred to Dokdo by another name, which is in no way acceptable. Let me just make it clear right here that it was a very offensive remark.

In terms of your third question of whether the ROK would cooperate with the Chinese government to inform the international community of atrocities Japan committed, I answered this question right here before by saying that there is no need for it.

You must be well aware of the reason for that. The situation has come to the point where relevant consultations and cooperation are unnecessary. The insistence by the government and some political leaders of Japan that Dokdo is their territory, I reiterate once again, clearly demonstrates no remorse on their part over their past history. Should they have remorse, they would neither make such remarks over Dokdo and others nor take actions that we recently heard about. Remorse and such words and actions are incompatible with each other.

They cannot say that they have remorse for their past wrongdoings, when they insist that there is no established definition of invasion and that the colonial rule was legitimate. What do they have remorse for then? What is there to have remorse for if the colonial rule was not illegitimate and they did not invade another country? Remorse and such attitude are incompatible with each other.

What is in your heart comes out of your mouth. Japanese leaders should look deeply into their hearts and have heart-felt remorse. Only then will they change for the better: They will talk and act in the right way. When Japanese leaders act and talk in a way that befits their remorse, the ROK-Japan relations will improve. Because they say that they have remorse but act differently, we cannot but doubt the sincerity of their remorse. It is just natural to do so. Anyone in our shoes would do so.

Furthermore, such mismatch between words and actions makes us doubt what Japanese leaders actually have remorse for. So, as I have reiterated time and again, they should have remorse from the bottom of their hearts. They should stop making unreasonable and erroneous insistences. Should they fail to do so, talk on doing something about the strained bilateral relations will be nothing but empty talk.

The same goes with regard to the issue of the sexual enslavement of Korean women for Japanese troops during World War II. The Japanese government, in the statement issued by former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kono, already acknowledged that these women had been coerced into sexual slavery against their will. As you must be well aware, this is not an issue between the ROK and Japan only, but an issue of universal human rights and an issue of women’s dignity. This fact was made clear in the report submitted by UN Special Rapporteur McDougall in 1998, which says that they were sexually enslaved by violence, abduction, force and intimidation by Japanese soldiers.

Similar details are also included in the report submitted by UN Special Rapporteur Coomaraswamy in 1996. As can be seen from these reports, it is not only the ROK that raises this issue. In 2007, the US House of Representatives adopted a relevant resolution. In addition, the US Congress, through the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2014, urged the US Secretary of State to encourage the Japanese government to address this sexual slavery issue.

The Japanese government should pay attention to this stern voice of the ROK and other neighboring countries as well as the rest of the international community. It should no longer turn a deaf ear to the voice. Only then will its “proactive contribution to peace” policy seem convincing.

Q: I am asking this question just to make sure. In your briefing last year, you mentioned that you could not prejudge whether Mount Geumgang tours would constitute a violation of sanctions under relevant UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea and that “it is up to the UN Security Council to make an authoritative interpretation and determine whether any particular aspect of inter-Korean relations is subject to the relevant resolutions.” There appears to be a little difference between your remarks back then and today. Please explain this.

A: I will double-check relevant details.

Q: Japan has so far failed to show any shift in its attitude. Should Japan remain the way it is, will the ROK-Japan relations cannot but remain strained? Does the ROK government not have any measures to resolve the situation?

A: Judging from recent remarks by some political leaders of Japan, their attitude is changing not for the better but for the worse. They are doing what we are asking them not to. How can they talk about improving the bilateral relations while taking this attitude?

What we can say for sure is that the ROK government does not want strained relations with Japan. Japan is the ROK’s important neighbor to usher in the future with. There is a basic attitude that Japan should take to do that. When such conditions as this are unmet, it would be hard to talk about the friendship between the two countries.

Let me make this clear: We do not think that Japan as a whole is at fault. Let me make that clear.

I will conclude today’s briefing.

* unofficial translation