Social Sciences
On Friday afternoon, February 22, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe gave a speech to a hand-selected crowd at CSIS in Washington. He is the grandson of Nobusuke Kishi who was an unprosecuted Class-A war criminal. He had been an administrator of Manchukuo and appointed by Tojo in 1941 as Minister of Commerce and Industry, and he held this position until Japan's surrender in 1945. In 1957, Kishi became a postwar Prime Minister through 1960. He subsequently played an important role in the normalization of relations between Japan and South Korea.
Georgetown.
You mentioned in your speech about North Korea, and I?d actually like to ask you about South Korea. We have a new president in South Korea going to be inaugurated next week, Park Geun-hye. But at the same time, frankly speaking, it?s a period of some difficult tensions in Japan-South Korea relations. So I guess I would like to know what your vision is for the future of Seoul-Tokyo cooperation in the face of many of the threats that you mentioned in your speech.
PRIME MIN. ABE: (Through interpreter.) First of all, I would like to say that Korea-South Korea is the most important neighbor for us. And President-elect Park Geun-hye ? I have had ? I met her twice, I?ve also had a meal with her actually, and my grandfather was best friends with her father, President Park Chung-hee. So ? but at the same time ? so President Park Chung-hee was someone who was very close with Japan, obviously.
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Social Sciences
Japan-Korean Relations
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| "With the help of Japan, China, and Manchukuo, the world can be at peace" |
On the 25th, Park Geun-hye will be inaugurated as the first female president of South Korea. One of her many challenges is overcoming her father's legacy as ruthless dictator who was trained at Japan's Imperial Army Academy and served in the Manchukuo Army. Last September, Ms. Park made a painful apology for her father's abuses of human rights.
During the Qs&As at this CSIS speech, Abe veered closer to his feelings than the diplomatic, prepared speech he gave had allowed. It is unlikely that Ms. Park was pleased with his answer. On the eve of her inauguration, lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties moved to set up a forum to review human rights abuses committed under the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula. The research group assisting the the legislators is the Japanese Forced Labor & Peace Studies Research Group [??????&?????].
Q: Mr. Prime Minister, it?s good to see you again. Victor Cha from CSIS and Georgetown.
You mentioned in your speech about North Korea, and I?d actually like to ask you about South Korea. We have a new president in South Korea going to be inaugurated next week, Park Geun-hye. But at the same time, frankly speaking, it?s a period of some difficult tensions in Japan-South Korea relations. So I guess I would like to know what your vision is for the future of Seoul-Tokyo cooperation in the face of many of the threats that you mentioned in your speech.
PRIME MIN. ABE: (Through interpreter.) First of all, I would like to say that Korea-South Korea is the most important neighbor for us. And President-elect Park Geun-hye ? I have had ? I met her twice, I?ve also had a meal with her actually, and my grandfather was best friends with her father, President Park Chung-hee. So ? but at the same time ? so President Park Chung-hee was someone who was very close with Japan, obviously.
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CONGRESSMAN MIKE HONDA?S STATEMENT ON JAPANESE PRIME MINSTER ABE?S SPEECH TO CONGRESS Washington, D.C. ? Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA17) today made the following statement about Japanese Prime Minister Abe?s speech to a joint meeting of Congress: It is...
- The Wall Street Journal, Of All Publications, Reprimands Abe
Abe at Ise Shrine January 5, 2015Abe?s New Year Resolution Honesty about World War II will bolster Japan?s standing in Asia. The Wall Street Journal, Editorial January 8, 2015 East Asia would benefit from improved relations between Japan and South Korea,...
- Times Echoes American Frustration With Japan
Masakaki OfferingThe New York Times April 23, 2013 Japan?s Unnecessary Nationalism By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Since taking over as Japan?s prime minister in December, Shinzo Abe and his conservative Liberal Democratic Party have been juggling a packed agenda...
- Japan's Cautious Hawks
In Japan's Cautious Hawks: Why Tokyo Is Unlikely to Pursue an Aggressive Foreign Policy published in the March/April 2013 issue of Foreign Affairs, APP member and Columbia University Professor Gerald L. Curtis argues...
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Shinzo Abe, Japan's former prime minister, speaks after being elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. Photograph by Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg By James Gibney BloombergView, September...