EXCLUSIVE: S. Korean Political Bigwig Urges Japan to Address Takeshima Calmly

Tokyo, Nov. 12 (Jiji Press)–Joo Ho-young, head of a suprapartisan league of South Korean lawmakers working to promote friendship with Japan, has called on Tokyo to take a restrained approach regarding the disputed Sea of Japan islets known in Japan as Takeshima. In an interview with Jiji Press in Tokyo on Tuesday, Joo, also deputy head of South Korea’s National Assembly, said that the issue easily infuriates South Korean people and triggers anti-Japanese sentiment. He stressed the need to manage the matter without putting public sentiment to the fore. The islets in the western Japan prefecture of Shimane, known as Dokdo in South Korea, are controlled by Seoul and claimed by Tokyo. Shortly before taking office in October, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that a Japanese cabinet minister should attend a ceremony to mark “Takeshima Day,” held in Shimane every February to demonstrate Japan’s sovereignty over the islets. Joo, a six-term lawmaker from the main opposition People Power Party, in the conservative camp, acknowledged that many in South Korea were seriously concerned about the inauguration of Takaichi, who is viewed in the country as a hard-line conservative. But he said that he was relieved to some extent after Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at their first meeting late last month affirmed their intentions to develop the two countries’ future-oriented relations. The PPP remains skeptical of the sincerity of Lee’s current positive stance toward Japan because the South Korean leader, a member of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, often made hard-line remarks against Japan before, Joo said. Still, he expressed hope for Lee, saying that a DPK administration can have a much better relationship with Japan than a conservative administration if it wants to and that there would be little public backlash. Joo visited Japan to attend the closing ceremony of an event related to the 60th anniversary of diplomatic normalization between the two countries, held in Tokyo on Tuesday. In the event, likened to Korean diplomatic delegations to Japan mainly in the country’s Edo period (1603-1868), a total of 30 people from Japan and South Korea rode bicycles from Seoul to Busan in South Korea and from Osaka to Tokyo in Japan from Oct. 26 to Tuesday. South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Hyuk said at the ceremony that nearly 14 million people are expected to travel between Japan and South Korea this year. People-to-people exchanges will help brighten the future even if there are difficulties in bilateral relations, he said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]