SEOUL: Japan and South Korea should issue a new joint declaration next year, when they mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of their diplomatic relations, a diplomatic brain of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said Thursday.

Such a document should reflect the spirit of cooperative partnership shared by the two countries, Park Cheol-hee, chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, an affiliate of South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, told foreign media organizations.

There should be some kind of commitment by the two countries to make bold attempts toward the future, rather than being obsessed with the past, he said. But that would not mean forgetting or bypassing the past, he added.

The 1998 Japan-South Korea joint declaration was signed by then Prime Minister OBUCHI Keizo and then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

The declaration underlined the need to build a new Japan-South Korea partnership for the 21st century. In the document, Japan expressed “deep remorse and heartfelt apology” for the damage and suffering it caused to Koreans through its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

The Yoon administration has drawn up an Indo-Pacific strategy to strengthen cooperation among South Korea, Japan and the United States.

On the proposed declaration, Park said that the scope of cooperation would not be limited to bilateral issues but would expand to various fields in the region and the world, including security, economy, society and culture.

JIJI Press