WW2-ANNIVERSARY/SOUTH KOREA-PRESIDENT South Korean president says Abe speech contains 'regrettable elements'

Record ID: 143854

  • Title: WW2-ANNIVERSARY/SOUTH KOREA-PRESIDENT South Korean president says Abe speech contains 'regrettable elements'
  • Date: 15th August 2015
  • Summary: PERFORMERS AT STAGE WAVING FLAGS
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAIMCB1RZXI5STZ7C7R88Z2AWJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Saturday (August 15) Seoul was focused on Abe's decision to uphold previous cabinets' understanding of history, but added that the speech contained "regrettable elements".
    "It is true that Prime Minister Abe's 70th anniversary speech had some regrettable elements for us," Park said in her Liberation Day address marking Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule from 1910-1945.
    "I am focused on him clearly saying to the international community that previous cabinets' recognition of history will remain unshakable," Park said in a speech.
    Park also said she hoped that Tokyo will resolve issues soon regarding honour and dignity of Korean victims who were forced work in Japan's military brothels during World War Two.
    "I hope Japanese government resolves the comfort women's issues properly as soon as possible," Park added.
    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a statement on Friday (August 14), expressed "utmost grief" for the "immeasurable damage and suffering" Japan inflicted during World War Two but said future generations should not have to keep apologising for the mistakes of the past.
    The legacy of the war still haunts relations with China and South Korea, which suffered under Japan's sometimes brutal occupation and colonial rule before Tokyo's defeat in 1945.
    Abe sent an offering to a shrine for war dead on Saturday, the 70th anniversary of Japan's World War Two defeat, but did not visit the shrine, seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Tokyo's wartime militarism.
    The premier sent a cash offering to the Yasukuni Shrine, his aide Koichi Hagiuda, a lawmaker in Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), told reporters.
    After the national ceremony, President Park along with thousands of people celebrated at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul to commemorate the Liberation Day.
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