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S. Korean paper: Japan Says Roh Exploiting Nationalism
04/07/2006

BY TADANAO TAKATSUKI, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN


SEOUL--Another potential diplomatic brouhaha between Japan and South Korea was fanned in the pages of a South Korean daily Wednesday. The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper printed a document that it said was an analysis of the South Korean political situation leaked from the Japanese Foreign Ministry.


The report stated the opinion that South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun was likely to stick to his hard-line stance toward Japan to take advantage of rising nationalism and avoid becoming a lame duck. After the issue hit the newsstands, South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon reacted strongly, hinting Seoul was prepared to take "rigid measures" to retaliate if the leaked document is genuine. Ban called a Japanese Embassy official to his office Wednesday and asked the Japanese government to confirm the report.


In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe neither confirmed nor denied the document's existence. "All nations conduct analyses of the international and regional situation," Abe said Thursday. "It is accepted practice internationally to not clarify the content or existence of such reports." The document, printed in JoongAng Ilbo, is dated Jan. 25 and titled "Recent Trends on the Korean Peninsula." It was apparently authored by a research unit in the Foreign Ministry's Northeast Asia Division. It carries a "Care in Handling" label in the upper-right corner of the front page.


The South Korean newspaper did not explain how it obtained the report. The document, according to the newspaper, explains how Roh had used an anti-Japanese stance to boost his public popularity. It states that Roh's support rating, which had floundered at around 20 percent, rose to close to 40 percent after he made a speech in March 2005 to commemorate Independence Day. In that speech, Roh slammed Japan over the disputed Takeshima islands, known as Tokto in Korean, and for its different interpretations of historical events.


The document predicts Roh will stay with his anti-Japanese stance until his term ends in February 2008. The report touches upon the Takeshima issue as a prime example of how politicians in South Korea fan nationalism and maintain an anti-Japanese stance, even when it leaves bilateral relations in a tattered state. The report called the Takeshima issue an "unreasonable expression of South Korean emotions that easily boil to the surface."


At a news conference Wednesday, Ban indicated what might lie ahead. Prefacing his comments with the assumption that the report was authentic, Ban said, "Despite the fact that responsibility for chilly bilateral relations lies in the mistaken historical understanding of Japan, it is extremely regrettable that (the report) presents a distorted interpretation that seems to say we are using bilateral relations for our own domestic political purposes." He added that if the report does in fact exist, Seoul would have to react with stern measures.


On Wednesday, Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Yoshinori Katori refrained from commenting on whether the report was indeed produced by the ministry. "It is only natural for the Foreign Ministry to analyze the situation in various foreign nations and create documents," Katori said. "Japan-South Korea relations are one of the most (important) bilateral relations that we have, and the stance of Japan is to create a future-oriented relationship with South Korea."(IHT/Asahi: April 7,2006)