hankyoreh

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed disappointment Sunday over Japan's "no-action, talk-only" apologies for its past wrongdoing, including sexual enslavement of South Korean women during World War II.

"While Japan has issued statements of regret and apologies for its past wrongdoing at various occasions, we are led to question their sincerity when they are marred by acts that contradict their expression of repentance," Roh wrote in the Global Asia, an English-language magazine published by an non-profit organization affiliated with South Korea's Foreign Ministry.

Roh said he had hoped that Tokyo would take actions, based on conscience and wisdom, to shake off its historical burden which has long bedeviled its political ties with Seoul.

"Thus, I chose not to raise this subject as an official agenda or issue during my earlier summit talks with my Japanese counterpart," he said in an article to the magazine. "My goodwill was not answered."

The outspoken president blamed historical issues for increased regional tensions, saying Japanese political leaders have continued to distort history.

He was apparently pointing to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent remarks that there is no direct evidence to prove that women were coerced into sexual servitude for front-line Japanese soldiers during World War II. Abe's position has caused a public uproar in South Korea.

Some historians estimate that up to 200,000 women from the Korean Peninsula, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and elsewhere were forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers before and during the war.

The Japanese government, in a 1993 statement, acknowledged that it had indeed set up military brothels and coerced foreign women into serving as sex slaves during the war.

Roh reiterated that Northeast Asia should benchmark the European Union for co-prosperity.

"We need to confront the past and build a common ground of historical understanding," he said.

Roh also emphasized that the region should forge a system for closer economic cooperation and multilateral security cooperation.

"The role of the U.S. should be underscored in creating peace in Northeast Asia," he said.

Seoul, April 15 (Yonhap News)