韓國議長指日本明仁天皇是「戰犯的兒子」

【Comment】

Through the Japan-Korea merger of 1910, the Korean Emperor joined the Japanese Empire and became a member of the Japanese royal family.  Korea then was monarch sovereignty, not popular sovereignty, nation, meaning the Korean Emperor, not the people, has the ultimate authority to decide the fate of the nation.

1910年的日韓合併，大韓皇帝加入日本帝國，成為日本天皇家族成員。當時的大韓帝國，是君主主權。皇帝決定國家。

South Korea politicos will never stop manipulating nationalism for its cheap political cost and the high returns, from the votes to the financial aides from Japan.  President Moon tore the agreement the former President Pak has made with Japan concerning the comfort women.

從表現而言，韓國是不會停止操作民族主義的。非常便宜划算的政治動員，韓國可以得到巨大援助資金。每一屆的韓國總統多少都這樣做，文在寅一上任也毀棄已經談妥的慰安婦協議。

Does “the son of the main culprit of war crimes” bear the same crime as his ancestor even the son has done nothing?  If it is so, the war may last forever.  Perhaps it is the plot in the politicos' mind, not to end the war in order to take advantages from it from time to time.

戰爭罪主嫌的子女，無論當時未成年也未執政，也背負戰爭罪嗎？假使如此，戰爭何時可以結束？對某些方面而言，使戰爭無法才是無本萬利？

陛下謝罪要求の韓国国会議長、ブルームバーグがインタビュー音声データ公開    Yahoo 20190213

韓国の文喜相国会議長が米通信社ブルームバーグのインタビューで、旧日本軍の従軍慰安婦問題について、天皇陛下による謝罪で問題が解決すると述べたことや、陛下を「戦争犯罪の主犯の息子」と表現したことについて、同社は１２日までに公式サイトなどで文議長のインタビューの音声データの一部を公開した。音声データでは、文議長が「その方は戦争犯罪の主犯の息子ではないか？」などと述べている。

文議長は韓国メディアの取材に対し、「戦争犯罪の主犯の息子」発言の趣旨について「戦争時の日本の国王の息子という意味だ」と釈明していたが、ブルームバーグ側が改めて客観的な「証拠」を示した形だ。

河野太郎外相はこの日の衆院予算委員会で「極めて無礼な発言だ。謝罪と撤回を求めている」と述べた。

South Korea Lawmaker Seeks Imperial Apology for Japan Sex Slaves   

Bloomberg 20190210

Japan’s emperor should hold hands with women forced to work in the country’s military brothels and make a personal apology if Tokyo wants to end the decades-old dispute, South Korea’s top lawmaker said.

National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang said in an interview Thursday that Japanese Emperor Akihito -- as the “the son of the main culprit of war crimes” -- should deliver the apology before his planned abdication in May.  Moon was asked how the two U.S. allies could resolve a worsening diplomatic feud fueled by disagreements over Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula, much of it under the emperor’s late father, Hirohito.

“It only takes one word from the prime minister, who represents Japan -- I wish the emperor would do it since he will step down soon,” said Moon, South Korea’s No. 2 elected official and a former presidential envoy to Japan.  “Isn’t he the son of the main culprit of war crimes?”

“So, if a person like that holds the hands of the elderly and says he’s really sorry, then that one word will resolve matters once and for all,” he said.

The Japanese prime minister’s office didn’t immediately respond Friday to a request for comment on Moon’s remarks.

The speaker’s comments underscore the widening divide between the neighbors, whose ties have sunk to one of their lowest points in more than half a century.  The direct challenge to the emperor -- a revered figure, whose father was once considered a living god -- risked further angering Japan.

While Akihito offered his “deepest regret” in 1990 for Japan’s colonization of the peninsula, many Koreans argue the country has failed to properly atone for specific wrongdoings, especially forcing local women to serve as “comfort women” in military brothels.  Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak outraged Japan in 2012 when he demanded a fuller apology as a condition for an imperial visit.

The dispute reemerged after President Moon Jae-in was elected in 2017 and moved to undo the comfort women pact his predecessor reached with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.  After the death of comfort woman-turned-campaigner Kim Bok-dong last month, Moon vowed to do everything in his power to “correct the history” for the 23 surviving victims.

In the interview, Moon Hee-sang said the “most sincere apologies” and compensation fund Abe offered comfort women in the December 2015 deal fell short of the sort of personal contrition German leaders have shown for their own country’s wartime atrocities.

“That is a legal apology,” he said Thursday.  “Countries can exchange apologies, but the problem is there are victims.”

More than 90 percent of South Koreans believed that Japan still needed to apologize over the comfort women issue, according to a joint survey of both countries published by the Seoul-based Hankook Daily and Tokyo-based Yomiuri newspaper in July.  That compared with less than 8 percent of Japanese who said another statement was necessary.

In 2001, Akihito told reporters that he felt affinity with Korea because one of his ancestors was said to have married a Korean princess.  The 85-year-old monarch is due to cede the throne to Crown Prince Naruhito in May, after saying his declining health had made it difficult to carry out his duties.

Moon Hee-sang, 73, has long been a fixture in progressive South Korean political circles and served as a top aide to the current president’s mentor. In July, he was elected speaker of the 300-seat National Assembly, a position of ceremonial rank second only to the president. The pair are not related.

Washington Visit

The speaker will likely be asked about South Korea-Japan ties next week, when he’s slated to lead a multiparty delegation to Washington to meet top U.S. officials including American counterpart Nancy Pelosi. The two sides are also expected to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s next meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this month in Vietnam.

Moon Hee-sang described the summit as a “great opportunity that arrives once in a thousand years” to establish peace on the peninsula, which been in a state of unresolved war since 1950. Reduced hostilities between the two Koreas would also improve ties with Japan, he said.

The speaker credited Moon Jae-in with bringing Trump and Kim to the negotiating table.

“He is the president who has won trust from the both sides,” Moon Hee-sang said. “The three have a fantastic chemistry.”

— With assistance by Jon Herskovitz, Isabel Reynolds, and Emi Nobuhiro

(Updates with request for Japanese response in fifth paragraph.)