Kim Geun-sik: "Yoon intends to break the M?bius strip of apology and reversal"

Kim Geun-sik, Chairman of the People Power Party's Unification Committee, highly praised President Yoon Seok-yeol's recent Korea-Japan diplomacy, saying it is "an effort to avoid the vicious cycle of endlessly reversing and apologizing for past history."

On the 17th, on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' Chairman Kim said, "President Yoon's attempt to resolve Korea-Japan relations in a future-oriented way through the Korea-Japan summit should be seen not as a negotiation in the traditional sense or the existing evaluation method, but as a new paradigm shift called determination."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He added, "From a negotiation perspective, if we gave 1, then we must receive 1 from Japan; evaluating it from this viewpoint could lead to a harsh assessment. However, if we look at it from the standpoint of breaking the endless repetitive and regressive vicious cycle of Korea-Japan relations bound by the past since the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Agreement, then we might evaluate this Korea-Japan summit differently from the way we have assessed and scored previous summits."

Chairman Kim referred to former President Kim Dae-jung's 'Sunshine Policy' toward North Korea, saying, "I believe DJ's Sunshine Policy was a determination made with a paradigm shift to take the initiative for inter-Korean relations for the unification and peace of the Korean Peninsula." He viewed President Yoon's current stance as a kind of 'Sunshine Policy toward Japan.'

However, former President Kim's Sunshine Policy was also criticized by the conservative camp in the past as a 'failed policy.' In response to the host's remark questioning if this was a case of double standards, Chairman Kim explained, "North Korea is currently an existing enemy, and its nuclear capabilities and armament are aimed at the Republic of Korea, so we cannot help but criticize that there is no return on that front. But Korea and Japan are not enemies now. Korea and Japan are allies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.