The Truth Behind the Mistranslation Controversy Revealed by WP Interviewer... 'The Subject Is President Yoon, Not Japan'

A Washington Post (WP) reporter who interviewed President Yoon Suk-yeol refuted the mistranslation controversy raised by the People Power Party by releasing the transcript. Contrary to the ruling party's explanation, the subject of the statement "I cannot agree that we must kneel because of something that happened 100 years ago" was President Yoon, not Japan.

On the 25th, Michelle Yehee Lee, an American journalist and head of WP's Korea bureau, posted on social media (SNS), "There was a question about a translation error, so I rechecked the recording," and revealed the transcript, saying, "This is exactly what (President Yoon) said without omission."

According to the transcript released by Bureau Chief Lee, President Yoon said, "Even though Europe has experienced several wars over the past 100 years and endured those horrific wars, the warring countries cooperate for the future. But to say that because of something that happened 100 years ago, it is absolutely impossible and that we must kneel unconditionally ? I cannot accept that."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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The WP report that conveyed this is as follows.

"Europe has experienced several wars for the past 100 years and despite that, warring countries have found ways to cooperate for the future," he said. "I can't accept the notion that because of what happened 100 years ago, something is absolutely impossible [to do] and that they [Japanese] must kneel [for forgiveness] because of our history 100 years ago."

Bureau Chief Lee's release of the transcript confirmed that there is no problem with WP's English translation.

The part that caused the mistranslation controversy domestically was the phrase "I cannot accept that we must kneel unconditionally." On the previous day, Yoo Sang-beom, the chief spokesperson of the People Power Party, commented during the controversy, saying, "Looking at the Korean interview released by the presidential office, President Yoon emphasized Europe's future-oriented cooperation and used the sentence omitting the subject," and added, "The sentence should be interpreted as 'It is unacceptable (for Japan) to say absolutely no and absolutely kneel.'"

According to the transcript, Yoo's explanation was incorrect. According to the content released by the WP reporter, the statement "I cannot accept" had a subject, and that subject was President Yoon, not Japan.

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The opposition party has continued to strongly criticize President Yoon's remarks following the previous day. On this day, Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, criticized at the floor strategy meeting, saying, "It revealed a very irresponsible and ahistorical perception to the extent that one might mistake it for the words of the Japanese Prime Minister, not the President."

Park Seong-jun, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, pointed out regarding this mistranslation controversy, "What kind of international embarrassment is this?" and added, "Before even starting the trip to the U.S., they caused an incident, responded with lies, and now those lies have been exposed."

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