By Sohn JiAe

“A correct awareness of history could be a starting point and is a requirement for a future-oriented partnership between Seoul and Tokyo.”

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was speaking on April 13 during a ceremony to mark the 98th anniversary of the establishment in Shanghai of Korea’s provisional government in exile in 1919. “The Japanese government must face history and take a sincere and consistent stance in regretting its past mistakes and in educating future generations,” Hwang said.

He went on to mention the people who fought on the front lines against Japanese imperialism for 27 years after the establishment of the provisional government. He said, “Like those fighters who came together to achieve independence, we now have to unite with each other to muster our national capabilities.”

“As these patriots declared in the charter of the Korean provisional government that the nation would be called the 'Democratic Republic of Korea,' they vowed to work toward peace for mankind,” he said. “Even amid the harsh ordeals in which they lost the sovereignty of their nation, they never gave up their dreams or courage, and continued to march toward the future,” he said.

jiae5853@korea.kr