‘Japan should withdraw unjust claims’

Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Kim Sung-hwan showed strong commitment in dealing with the territorial and historical challenges of Japan during an interview with The Korea Times.

Though more than half a century has passed since its brutal colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula (1910-1945), Japan has yet to fully repent for past misdeeds as seen in its bid to take the issue of Dokdo’s sovereignty to the international court and refusal to properly compensate Korean victims.

“It is deeply regrettable that historical issues have been a hindrance to developing a future-oriented relationship between the two countries,” said Kim. “The consistent position of the Korean government is to firmly and resolutely deal with any provocations by Japan.”

The following is an excerpt of the interview with Kim. – ED.

Japan’s provocations

Q: What was the purpose of President Lee Myung-bak’s unprecedented visit to the easternmost islets of Dokdo in August?

A: The recent visit by President Lee to Dokdo was an expression of his firm determination to protect our territorial sovereignty against Japan’s groundless claims. As a matter of fact, Japan has been persistently continuing its provocations long before President Lee’s visit to Dokdo. For example, over the years, Japan has been making unjust claims in its textbooks, the Diplomatic Bluebook and the Defense White Paper. Since 2005, they have been celebrating the so called Takeshima Day.

Q: What is Korea’s ultimate goal regarding Dokdo?

A: The ultimate aim of the Korean government is to have the Japanese government withdraw its unjust claims over Dokdo. To this end, we are pursuing measures from a long-term, strategic perspective to protect our territorial sovereignty. Through public diplomacy, we are striving to enhance the understanding of the general public abroad on Dokdo related facts, while fending off Japanese attempts to turn Dokdo into a disputed territory.

Q: What is the fundamental position regarding sexual enslavement of Korean women by the Imperial Japanese Army?

A: The Korean government time and again has been urging the Japanese government to take sincere measures on historical issues. Our government maintains that the issue was not settled by the 1965 bilateral treaty, while the Japanese government argues that all the wartime legal claims were settled by it. We have been urging Japan to acknowledge the illegality of the actions forced upon victims by the Imperial Japanese Army so that they can recover their dignity. Seoul had proposed to settle the issue through bilateral negotiations under the dispute settlement procedure of the said treaty. However, Tokyo has not responded to our proposal. So we are also considering arbitration to resolve this issue.

Q: In May, Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that Japanese wartime companies should compensate victims of their forced mobilization of Koreans as laborers. What does the Korean government plan to do about it?

A: It is premature to comment on the Supreme Court ruling as it has been sent back to the lower court, and it is currently being reviewed. With regard to the recent news reports that the Japanese government is of the view that forced labor claims of Korean nationals against Japanese corporations is valid, we are checking the facts.

Q: Can we think of Japan as a true partner after all the provocations?

A: Just a small number of Japanese rightists’ acting in such a way do not mean we have to quit overall partnership with Japan. Our position with Japan is to cooperate in areas where we can but at the same time not back down on any historical or territorial issues. Areas for cooperation would mostly be business and the North Korean issue.

Korea-Japan-China

Q: What do you think Korea, Japan and China should do to overcome historical and territorial conflicts?

A: As neighbors, the three Northeast Asian nations maintain close cooperation but on certain issues, they have different views. As we all know, some issues are deep-rooted.

I believe that the leaders, governments and the people of the three countries can narrow the differences in perception through in-depth communication. In this context, I cannot but overemphasize the importance of public diplomacy.

In addition, there is a need to promote a multi-layered framework to foster cooperation within the region. The trilateral cooperation will not only serve to further common interests, but also contribute to the development of bilateral relations. In this regard, the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, which was established last year, is doing an excellent job in fostering cooperation among the three countries.

Achievement as foreign minister 

Q: Two years have passed since you assumed the post of foreign minister. What do you think your achievements are?

A: All my efforts since taking office in 2010 can be best summed up as follows _ the reform of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) and the pursuit of a multi-layered networking diplomacy.

At the time of my inauguration, a recruiting scandal was undermining the public’s trust in MOFAT. To stem the tide, I took bold steps to reform the human resources management system, making it fair, transparent and competitive. These steps included strengthening the qualification criteria for heads of overseas missions, the strict implementation of the recruitment and dismissal system, and the launching of the National Diplomatic Academy to nurture talented young diplomats, among others.

Meanwhile, the growing complexity of international relations in the 21st century increasingly calls for new diplomatic strategies. As such, I embraced a new diplomatic paradigm of multi-layered networking diplomacy. We have successfully hosted major international events such as the G20 Seoul Summit, the High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, and the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit. Moreover, we recently achieved another diplomatic triumph by securing a seat at the U.N. Security Council from next year and won a bid to house the secretariat of the Global Climate Fund as well. Keeping up these efforts are sure to help carve out our country’s future under the vision of a global Korea.

Resource diplomacy 

Q: What do you think of stepping up diplomacy with resource-rich countries in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa?

A: Previously, Korea’s foreign policy was mainly focused on our relations with the neighboring countries. However under our current diplomatic vision of a “Global Korea,” we have put much emphasis on further developing our relations with other countries as well.

This is well evidenced by the fact that Korea has been stepping up high-level diplomacy with the countries in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. President Lee and other high-level officials are making frequent visits to these countries. President Lee’s visit to Colombia(June 2012) was the first visit by a Korean President and his visit to Myanmar(May 2012) was the first visit in nearly 30 years. We hold numerous multilateral forums with the countries in these regions. Just last month, we held the 3rd Korea-Africa Forum in Seoul.

Korea seeks to promote economic cooperation with these resource-rich countries. I believe that these countries also have a lot to benefit by building up their relations with Korea. We are more than eager to share our development experience and are expanding our overall ODA budget. Recently, we have also been cooperating in the field of green growth with many of these countries.

Hallyu 

Q: Tell us your thoughts on South Korea’s soft power and public diplomacy.

A: According to a recent survey published by the Korea Foundation, as of July 2012, there are 829 voluntarily organized Korean Wave (or Hallyu) fan clubs with a total of 6.7 million members all over the world. Not to mention the recent great success of the Korean rapper Psy, Korean popular culture is well appraised and received by the general public across the world.

Ever since I assumed office as Foreign Minister in 2010, I have underscored the importance of soft power and public diplomacy. The Korean wave serves to further enhance the national image and extend the network of zealous fans around the world. This provides a great opportunity for Korea to enhance our soft power capabilities and reach out to the people around the world.

The Korean government is trying to make more global friends through cultural attractiveness and by providing opportunities to share opinions and feelings. I believe that the Korean Wave should not be a one-sided influx of culture, but rather present a chance to promote mutual communication with the people of countries of different cultural backgrounds. In order to foster cross-cultural exchanges, MOFAT has implemented the “Mutual Cultural Exchange Program” since 2006 to introduce the cultures of other countries to the Korean public.

ODA 

Q: How to improve South Korea’s Official Development Assistance (ODA)?

A: ODA is one of the most important means of diplomacy in fostering friendly relations with developing countries.

In order to improve aid effectiveness, MOFAT has concerted its efforts to further systematize the ODA coordination. At present, about thirty ministries and public institutions directly disburse aid, undermining aid effectiveness and creating unnecessary administrative costs.

MOFAT is heading the Inter-Agency Grants Committee (IAGC) for closer coordination among government agencies. To further streamline the ODA, MOFAT is discussing with the relevant government agencies to have the Korean embassies play the role as the unified channel of communication and coordinator of ongoing ODA activities at the field level in our partner countries. <The Korea Times/Chung Min-uck>