Former Japanese PM says Tokyo should continue with apologies until victims say “enough”

Posted on : 2015-08-14 14:53 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Visiting Seoul, Yukio Hatoyama speaks out against the Japanese government’s rightward turn under PM Shinzo Abe
 left) and former South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo (front
left) and former South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo (front

A former Japanese Prime Minister said on Aug. 13 that Japan should continue apologizing for its past historical actions until the victims say “enough.”

Yukio Hatoyama, who was Prime Minister between Sept. 2009 and June 2010, delivered a keynote speech titled “Toward Confronting Historical Truth and Building an East Asian Community” that day at the 2015 East Asia Peace Conference. The event, which took place at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, was organized by Seoul Metropolitan Government and Gyeonggi Province.

In the speech, Hatoyama made reference to past statements by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995 and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono in 1993, which respectively apologized for Japan’s colonial rule and the issue of so-called “comfort women” drafted to serve as sex slaves to the Japanese military.

“Such expressions of our feelings must continue until such time as the people in the wounded countries tell us, ‘You can stop now,’” Hatoyama said.

“At a time when Japan was losing confidence because of a recession, an illiberal form of nationalism appeared, and people began insisting that these ideas were ‘apology diplomacy’ and that there ‘never was a war of aggression,’” he noted.

Hatoyama also urged current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to immediately apologize to the people of countries victimized by Japanese military aggressions and colonial rule in his upcoming “Abe statement.”

“True patriotism is the courage to not close your eyes to the historical facts of the past, and to know how to apologize for your wrongs,” said Hatoyama, who visited the Seodaemun Prison in Seoul the day before to kneel and deliver an apology to Korean independence fighters imprisoned, tortured and died during the occupation.

“To check the spread of illiberal nationalism, we have to build regional organizations founded the ideas of brotherhood and share a forum for understanding one another,” he advised.

Hatoyama went on to call for establishing an “East Asian parliament” on Okinawa and an “East Asian Peace Council” to supervise regional security.

“People in East Asia have long dreamed of becoming a non-warring community, and it is time for us to create that East Asian community,” he explained.

Hatoyama went on to note ongoing discussions on security laws by the Abe administration.

“I oppose any changes to these laws,” he declared.

“Japan must remain a country whose Peace Constitution prevents it from participating in any wars,” he said.

By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter

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