Rival political parties in South Korea on Monday strongly denounced comments by a senior U.S. diplomat on strained Seoul-Tokyo relations as the diplomat dismissed the position of victimized states during World War II.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman said at a seminar in Washington Friday that it would not be hard for "a political leader anywhere to earn cheap applause by vilifying a former enemy, " apparently referring to relations between China, South Korea and Japan. "But such provocations produce paralysis, not progress," she said.
Her comments were meant to ask South Korea to leave behind past history issues and have future-oriented mind in diplomatic ties with Japan, but those words caused strong backlash from South Korean lawmakers.
Rep. Kim Eul-dong of the ruling Saenuri Party said during a party meeting that Sherman's comments on historical issues, which caused conflicts between South Korea, China and Japan, raised controversy as the diplomat said the issues should be left behind for future relations.
Kim said that if the United States sticks to a stance of turning a blind eye to victim states, its status as the world's police state will not last long, noting that the diplomat's comments poured cold water on South Korean President Park Geun-hye who called for improved Seoul-Tokyo relations based on Japan's sincere repentance over its history.
President Park said Sunday that Japan should face up to history with courage and sincerity for Seoul and Tokyo to "write a new history together as a more mature partner (to each other) for the next 50 years." Park's remarks were made during a ceremony marking South Korea's 1919 nationwide uprising against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Fifty years have passed since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in 1965.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of South Korea's independence from Japan's colonial rule as well as the 50th anniversary of normalized relations between the two countries.
Park, who was sworn in as head of state in February 2013, has refused to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, citing his wrong perception of history.
Abe infuriated its Asian neighbors after visiting the notorious Yasukuni Shrine in December 2013, as it honors Japan's war dead, including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals in WWII. He returned to power in December 2012.
Rep. Jun Byung-hun of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy said during a party meeting that Sherman's complacent view "is beyond regrettable and truly deplorable," criticizing the South Korean government for its diplomatic incompetence that brought on such views as Sherman's.
Oh Young-shik, a senior opposition lawmaker, expressed deep regrets over Sherman's remarks, saying that victim states like South Korea cannot leave behind the past brutalities under the colonial rule though the United States may be able to leave behind such history of other countries.
Yonhap News Agency said in a commentary that Sherman put more weight on South Korea and China than Japan in terms of responsibility for the current diplomatic standoff between the three Northeast Asian countries, noting that it had no difference from the "absurd logic" always argued for by Abe.
The commentary said Sherman ignored the fact that conflicts in Northeast Asia worsened since Abe took power and that the conflicts escalated for Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine and comments among Abe and other politicians to distort Japan's wartime history.
The commentary wondered whether the U.S. may have changed its position on Japan's wartime sex slavery, citing President Barack Obama's remarks in April 2014 when he described the Japanese sex enslavement as "terrible and egregious violation of human rights."
More than 200,000 young women, many of them Koreans, were forced into sex slavery at the Japanese military brothels during the devastating world war triggered by the Japanese militarists. Among the 237 South Korean women who identified themselves as former sex slaves, only 53 are alive.
Since her inauguration in February 2013, President Park has stressed the importance of the World War II sex slave issue, saying that little time is left for the elderly victims whose age averages almost 90.
