Japan has asked South Korea to apologize for the kidnapping of then opposition leader Kim Dae-jung in Tokyo in 1973, and take measures to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents, a report said Wednesday.

Following the National Intelligence Service's announcement that former President Park Chung-hee tacitly approved the kidnapping by Korea's spy agency, Korean Ambassador to Tokyo Yu Myung-hwan briefed Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Hitoshi Kimura on the abduction, the Yonhap News report said.

Expressing regret over the case, Kimura said the use of Korean state power in Tokyo was a violation of Japan's sovereignty, it said.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/natio.../113_12507.html

I doubt S. Korea will apologize.

South korea wont apologize because japan never apologized for their war crimes..at least nazi germany apologized. Talk about a country based on honor...

which dumb@$$ politician thought of the idea of asking for an apology?

To be crude, they can go fu-k themselves.

they can give korea the best tentacle feces farting japanese porn

i still dont think korea will apologize

Talk about ignorance...



Source: The Associated Press

By the way, Japan REJECTED South Korea's apology because the Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura had a "tight" schedule and was unable to receive South Korean ambassador. Talk about being burned lol.

I do believe Japan has every right to demand an apology from South Korea because the exercising of their public authority within Japan is a clear violation of Japan's sovereignty. This is why Japan is still at crossroads over the North Koreans abductions of Japanese citizens.

Right. And Japan doesn't deserve any apologies.

Sure Japan deserves right, but given the relationship with Korea, I don't think Korea will apologize.
Asking for apology only asking for more trouble from hotheaded Koreans.

Screw this apology crap. S Korea's government need not apologize to Japan for this abduction BS. Japan is just trying to act bold and cocky towards her neighbor, as what she does on a regular basis.

Japan's government should realize that China is a growing brother in the area, and Korea may choose to align with China in the future if Japan's government officials don't shape the hell up!

lol...that's bold.

Japan will always have the American finger up the @$$. They can do whatever the hell they want.

First of all, the guy who was abducted is a South Korean. And this South Korean became the president of South Korea after a fair election. The current South Korean government under Noh Mu-hyun is totally different from the one that abducted Kim many many years ago. Japan is asking the wrong people for an apology.

This is like asking the people of Burma (Myanmar) an apology for the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi instead of asking the government of Burma.

I agree that the economic progress of South Korea began with Park Chung-hee. But many South Koreans such as Kim Dae-jung were against Park Chung-hee because Park Chung-hee became the leader through a coup d'etat, not through an election.

Although the South Korean agents did this in Japan, none of the Japanese were harmed. If Yasuo Fukuda had any sense, he wouldn't be asking the people who were opressed under Park.

South Korea has already apologized to Japan. I don't understand what you're saying.




Isn't that a bit hypocritical? If we go by your reasoning, Japan should not apologize to South Korea for past wartime violations, whether it be the colonization, comfort women, etc. because the current Japanese government bears no responsibility for the actions of pre-1945 Japan.

why the fu-k do we need to apologize? $hit, japan hasnt even apologize yet. What the fu-k are you? chinese or japanese troll?

Are you comparing the occupation of Korea to one abduction in Japan- which was an abduction of a Korean, not a Japanese? Many terrible things happened during the occupation.

Anyway, I never demanded Japan for an apology.

This is not a worthy notable news in Japan.

This is silly of Japanese government ,
why does Korea need to apologize for making one of their national person
return to his motherland ?
Returning home is always good and I hope more Koreans in Japan will do the same by themselves
if they reject to assmilate japanese society.

I heard its very difficult for them to adopt japanese culture because of their unique korean
family mind and addiction to spicy foods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_a...issued_by_Japan



List of war apology statements issued by Japan
From Wikipedia


,just want to clarify the actual facts happend.

No, I am simply following your line of reasoning. Whether or not it was an abduction of a Korean or Japanese is not an issue here, but the fact that the South Korean government exercised its public authority in another country (in this case, Japan) is a clear violation of Japanese sovereignty and international law, regardless of the magnitude of the provocation (that is, if there were indeed "many terrible things" that happened during the colonization period).

I did not ask for your personal views, but the general sentiment of South Koreans and their government today.

asking us? it's more like they are demanding us to apologize.

.....

...

That's your opinion.

It has been a long time since the South Koreans in South Korea stopped asking for an apology. The heated relationship comes from Japan's claim over a Korean island called Dokdo and a large area of sea near and far from it. Before this, the Korea-Japan relationship was warming up. Even today, the Dokdo issue is put at a low attention by both countries.

You seem to be trying too hard to be neutral in this, but if you knew the history, then you wouldn't be saying the things you have said.

If Japan wants an apology, they should demand the KCIA instead of the government that was structured by the person who had been abducted. Imagine if Aung San Suu Kyi was abducted in Vietnam. Imagine if she became the president of Burma (Myanmar) later on. Would you have the nerve to demand an apology to a democratically voted government that came after Aung San Suu Kyi's presidency?

Not really. Legally-speaking, a person's ethnicity or nationality is a non-issue because the provocation here is the South Korean government exercising its public authority in Japan, something that violates Japanese sovereignty and international law.

As for the issue of Liancourt rocks, I am somewhat more sympathetic towards the Japanese argument for the islands being part of Japan's Shimane Prefecture as opposed to the Korean Dokdo. For example, South Korean reluctance of going over to the ICJ to settle the dispute while claiming to have complete historical and legal backing of its occupation of the islands is somewhat contradictory. Though I must admit, I am no expert over this dispute so I will just leave it at that.

Keep in mind the KCIA (if I'm not mistaken) was under the direct command of the government and that its founder was a relative of the South Korean dictator Park Chung Hee. And again, I believe Japan is not protesting against the South Korean government over its kidnapping of Kim Dae Jung, but rather South Korea's blatant violation of Japan's sovereignty (see the Yomiuri article). This is really not relevant to your Aung San Suu Kyi analogy.

You talk as if the current South Korean government had something to do with this.


This obviously shows that you don't have a neutral view on the South Korea-Japan issue. Korea's Dokdo is in a Korean province. It's not as if Japan is the only one saying that it's in their own province.


I suggest you read my post. You talk as if I'm denying that the KCIA was under the command of the dictator.

The current government is totally against the KCIA and the earlier one disbanded it. In fact, Kim Dae-Jung, the former president of South Korea, was a victim of the KCIA and the dictator who commanded it.

By the way, did you know that Japan along with the US helped save Kim Dae-Jung? When the former president Kim Dae-Jung visited Japan, he was welcomed by the Japanese who saved him, one of them being the former prime minister of Japan. They had a meeting over this. In other words, this whole thing is old news to the Japanese government. It's odd that the Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Hitoshi Kimura talked as if he was shocked at the news and demanded an apology. The right of one's land is one thing, saving someone and then demanding an apology is being hypocritical, albeit it was done by different people. I'm just explaining both sides to the story, I'm not being hypocritical like you claiming me to be.

Cha, why are you arguing on the net with a vietnamese person who knows nothing about korea or japan?

Then let me ask you this: Was the American government under the leadership of President Ronald Reagan ever responsible for the internment of Japanese in America? Why did America apologize and compensate the Japanese victims during the '80s? You see, the government in power is a representative of the country, therefore could be held liable for past misconduct. The fact that the South Korean government have already apologized to Japan (although this apology was ignored and rejected) clearly shows how international laws have been broken as a result of the kidnapping.

I never said the Liancourt rocks weren't occupied by South Korea, it clearly is. But as far as historical and legal matters go, I said I was "more sympathetic" to Japan's argument over South Korea's. Are you suggesting that the only possible way to maintain neutrality on the issue is to side with South Korea's claim? I'm sorry, but as far as outside observers go, I believe I am as neutral as you can get. Had I been biased as you so claimed, I would have referred to the islands as the Japanese name "Takeshima" outright. I didn't. I went with the neutral name "Liancourt rocks" for a reason. Being sympathetic to Japan's argument is does not mean I regard the islands to be Japanese. I just believe the Japanese have a better claim to the islands than South Korea.



That is really odd I must say. If you refer to this BBC story on Kim Dae Jung:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7069437.stm

It says:



If Japan indeed helped Mr. Kim, then why would he be complaining that Japan had "infringed" on his rights? Also worth noting is Mr. Kim's admission that Japanese sovereignty was violated, therefore Japan's demand for an apology from the South Korean government was completely valid (again, South Korean government did end up apologizing to Japan).

^ You should know even Japanese government knew about this kidnapping incident, if they said they didn't knew about it, then that's lie. Japanese government heavily favored South Korea's president JH Park over KDJ due to JH Park once served Japanese imperial army.

South Korea doesn't need to apologize to Japanese Government, they already apologized to KDJ, and according to Korean newspaper article, Korean constitutional court fully recognized this kidnapping ordeal as direct intervention from president JH Park.

This dictator JH Park is dead long ago and KDJ was once president of South Korea, and there is little point of bringing this now. Japan never formally apologize about illegally assassinating Queen Min of Joson Dynasty and never formally apologize for kidnapping & torturing thousands of political activists.

And with regards to territorial disputes is another matter and do not bring this anti-Korean stuffs into this forum, as you only going to owned by Korean nationalist.

Very well said.

Do American and Israel ever apologise for kidnapping people in other countries? Why should Korea make a formal apology 34 years later when KDJ was vindicated to the point where he became president?