문 대통령 "일본은 정직해야,... 확장적 재정으로 내년 예산 편성"
President Moon Jae-in this morning... told Japan that it needs to be honest about its past crimes.
The process of self-reflection, he said, is never over.
As for next year's budget,... Moon said Japan's recent trade curbs have, in fact, solidified the path the Korean economy will take.
Shin Se-min has this report.
President Moon Jae-in said Japan needs to be honest,... coming out hard against the Japanese government's efforts to link historical issues to economic matters,... calling such an attitude,... "disingenuous."
"Japan must be honest. No matter what excuse it invokes as justification, it is clear that the Japanese government has linked historical issues to economic matters."
Speaking during a Cabinet meeting Thursday to review the government's budget plan for next year,... President Moon said the attitude of the Japanese government towards historical issues has never been honest,... and its reluctance to either acknowledge or repent for its wrongdoings only aggravates the wounds of the victims.
"Recollection and self-reflection about the past can never be complete. This is not something that can be brought to a conclusion just by saying that repentance is over because it was uttered once. Or that the past is completely over because an agreement was reached in the past."
The president sent a clear warning to Japan,... even saying it should take lessons from Germany that earned the trust of the international community through its acceptance and sorrow for its past.
This is the first time the president has used the term "honest" in the two-month period since Japan first initiated its trade restrictions against South Korea, to which Seoul responded last week by ending the bilateral military information sharing agreement with Japan.
Pressing Japan over its offensive attitude toward its historical wrongdoings,... the president added the South Korean government's budget next year took multiple factors, both internal and external to devise the record budget of over 423 billion U.S. dollars.
Moon promised to help minimize the damage suffered by local firms as a result of the export curbs and reiterated that the country would use this challenge as an opportunity to step up.
He added Japan's "unreasonable" trade restrictions have also solidified the path that the South Korea will take in the future.
"Stressing the importance that fiscal measures will play in 2020, the president said the expansionary budget would help create a foundation for Korea to become an 'unshakeable nation.'
Shin Se-min, Arirang News."
