Yoon: "If Korea and Japan Do Not Ignore Dark History, a New Future Is Possible" ... One-Year Diplomatic Self-Assessment on Inauguration

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President Yoon Suk-yeol evaluated on the 9th that "if we do not ignore the dark past of history and approach it with sincerity, South Korea and Japan will be able to overcome the difficulties they face and open a new future." This comes after the South Korean government proposed a third-party resolution regarding the issue of forced labor victims, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed regret over the forced labor victims, suggesting that the Korea-Japan relationship will solidify beyond the normalization stage. Based on this, President Yoon plans to strengthen close trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States, and Japan, contributing to regional peace and expanding South Korea's influence to the Indo-Pacific region.

In his live remarks at the Cabinet meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office that morning, President Yoon said, "Prime Minister Kishida said he is deeply sorry that the forced labor victims had a difficult and sorrowful experience under harsh conditions."

These remarks were broadcast live on TV and were effectively a 'message to the nation' made a day before his first anniversary in office. Following President Yoon's visit to Japan last month and Prime Minister Kishida's visit to South Korea on the 7th and 8th, shuttle diplomacy between Korea and Japan was restored after 12 years. However, the opposition party has launched a fierce offensive calling it 'bread shuttle diplomacy' (referring to Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party), and President Yoon appears to be officially rebutting these criticisms.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon mentioned the broad cooperation plans agreed upon at the Korea-Japan summit, including economic, industrial, scientific, cultural, and human exchanges, the dispatch of a Korean inspection team to Fukushima contaminated water, and the joint visit by the Korea-Japan leaders to the Hiroshima memorial for Korean atomic bomb victims during the G7 summit, emphasizing that "these are things that could not have been imagined until very recently but are now happening between Korea and Japan." He explained that through the recent Korea-US summit, Korea-Japan summit, and the upcoming Korea-US-Japan summit at the G7, the trilateral security cooperation will be strengthened to build solidarity for regional peace.

He also stressed that over the past year since taking office, South Korea's diplomatic horizon has expanded, citing examples of attending important meetings and conferences based on universal values such as freedom, human rights, and the rule of law, as well as sales diplomacy efforts.

According to the Presidential Office, excluding informal talks and phone meetings, President Yoon has attended 35 bilateral meetings and 13 multilateral meetings, visiting 10 countries. Among these, he has strengthened relations with traditional allies such as the United States in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, attended the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit for the first time as a South Korean president (June last year), announced digital norms establishment and official development assistance (ODA) to bridge gaps at the United Nations General Assembly (September last year), unveiled the government's first Indo-Pacific strategy (November last year), and co-hosted the Democracy Summit (March this year), thereby increasing South Korea's influence in the international community.

President Yoon stated, "The international community, having experienced the horrors of the First and Second World Wars, has built an order over the past 70 years based on norms of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, and peaceful resolution of disputes, realizing freedom, peace, and prosperity." He added, "Our constitution stipulates that the government and the people must comply with these international norms as domestic law. Therefore, our government has opposed military solutions to conflicts and changes of the status quo by force." He pledged, "In the fierce geopolitical competition and multilayered international relations, the Republic of Korea will play a hub role for world peace and prosperity."

In particular, regarding the Washington Declaration and the establishment of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) agreed upon with U.S. President Joe Biden during his state visit to the United States last month, President Yoon emphasized, "South Korea's security, which had relied solely on North Korea's goodwill, has transformed." He said, "The Korea-US Mutual Defense Treaty, which was based on conventional military power, has been upgraded to a nuclear capability basis. South Korea can now further strengthen extended deterrence through joint planning and execution concerning the operation of U.S. nuclear assets."

Explaining the achievements of sales diplomacy, he promised to actively promote South Korea's excellence to global business leaders and attract high-quality investments in the future. President Yoon had strengthened semiconductor and supply chain cooperation and achieved large-scale defense export results during his attendance at the NATO summit last year. Additionally, during Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman's visit to South Korea in November last year, 26 contracts and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) worth a total of $30 billion (approximately 40 trillion KRW) were signed, signaling the start of attracting large-scale oil money.

During his visits to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Switzerland in January this year, he secured investments worth $30 billion (approximately 40 trillion KRW) and signed 48 MOUs during the state visit to the UAE. During last month's state visit to the United States, he secured $5.9 billion (approximately 7.9 trillion KRW) in investments and signed 50 MOUs. President Yoon said, "I have taken it upon myself to be South Korea's number one salesperson over the past year and have conducted top-level sales diplomacy." He promised, "I will continue to place the economy at the center of diplomacy and work hard to expand exports of our products and attract investments from advanced overseas companies."

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