By Just another reason why you have to like South Korea’s President-elect Lee Myung-bak:
President-elect Lee Myung-bak on Thursday said there will be no more demands for apologies from Japan during his presidency. “For a new, mature Seoul-Tokyo relationship, I don’t want to ask them to apologize for, or examine themselves†over colonial rule of Korea, Lee told foreign reporters at an event organized by the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club at the Korea Press Center in Seoul.
Asked if he would continue the tradition of demanding apologies from Tokyo established by his predecessors, Lee said, "It’s true that Japan has so far only made perfunctory apologies or self-examinations in the past, and such apologies failed to move the Korean people to a large extent. But I’m sure that Japan will conduct a mature diplomacy regardless." [Chosun Ilbo]
It is nice to see a Korean politician that doesn’t have to play the victimhood card we have seen played repeatedly the last five years in order to obscure his own failures to increase popularity with the masses.Â
11:33 am on January 19th, 2008 1
Wow. Pres-elect Lee is not trying to play the "Japan must apologize because Korea is the victim" card?
Next thing you know Koreans will start…
…chewing with thier mouth closed
…swallowing thier mouthful of food before talking
…wearing, instead of dragging, thier shoes down the hallway
…telling the truth instead of laying up in the hospital for 30 days after a minor fender bumper
…waiting in line
…talking at a normal volume in their cell phones
…letting another driver merge
etc, etc, etc.
About time Korea moved on from "the best dressed 3rd world country in the world" status to actually behaving as a responsible and mature player on the world stage.
I love Korea and the Korean people. I see this as a long overdue step forward.