FM Yun urges Abe to face history

By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se urged Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Tuesday to offer an apology for Tokyo's wartime wrongdoings during his ongoing trip to the United States.

"The eyes of the world are now set on Prime Minister Abe, who is in Washington D.C. at the moment," Yun said at a dinner meeting with the participants in a forum hosted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

The minister said, "There have been strong voices from Korea, the U.S., regional countries and the international community urging him not to miss this year's golden opportunities to make a clean break with the past as the Germans did."

Taking lessons from Richard Nixon, who opened a new chapter in Washington's relations with Beijing, Abe can show "that kind of leadership to steer Japan's future towards the right direction," added the minister.

Abe plans to address a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives on Wednesday (local time), a day after summit talks with President Barack Obama.

Abe's remarks on history issues in his speech will be closely monitored in South Korea, China and other countries.

Yun also dismissed concerns that a stronger U.S.-Japan alliance will affect the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

"The Korea-U.S. alliance, which is known as in its best state ever, cannot and will not be weakened or marginalized because of the U.S.-Japan alliance," he stressed. "We need to overcome this mentality of zero-sum game."

His assertion came as Washington and Tokyo announced their new joint defense guidelines. Japan will expand its military role abroad by exercising the right to collective self-defense.

This means Japan will be able to use military force to help the U.S. or other partner nations under attack, as well as the interception of North Korean missiles heading toward U.S. soil.

Yun, meanwhile, expressed optimism that South Korea, China and Japan will hold three-way summit talks this year.

"The three countries agreed to hold the trilateral summit at the earliest convenient time," he said. "I am reasonably optimistic that this summit will be held within this year."

Yun cited trilateral foreign ministerial talks in March and a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Abe in Jakarta earlier this month.

On North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's possible trip to Russia next month for a war anniversary event, the minister said, "I hope he will mingle with international leaders to make the trip a true eye-opener."

"There is much he could learn from foreign leaders, such as Vietnam, Cuba as well as East European transition countries," he added.

lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)