Published memoir containing interviews with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Former Prime Minister Abe Leaves the Reasons for Deteriorating Korea-Japan Relations to South Korea
“Emotional response to breaking GSOMIA”
“Japan’s Moral Superiority by Destroying the Comfort Women”
A memoir of Shinzo Abe, a collection of interviews with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead last year, has been published.
The 480-page memoir contains what former Prime Minister Abe dictated to the Yomiuri Shimbun editorial board and others for 36 hours over 18 times over a year from October 2020, after his retirement.
Prior to the official publication on the 8th, according to a memoir distributed in Japanese bookstores on the 7th, former Prime Minister Abe described former President Moon Jae-in as a ‘convinced criminal’. It is argued that former President Moon was aware that the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling on compensation for forced labor violated international law.
During his lifetime, former Prime Minister Abe strongly criticized the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling in 2018 to compensate Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the damages caused by forced labor.
He said, “The Claims Agreement signed by Korea and Japan in 1965 is a treaty under international law, and it is stipulated that the right to claim compensation has been ‘completely and finally settled.’” no,” he said.
He then claimed that former President Moon Jae-in was aware of the problems of the conscription compensation ruling because he participated in the committee that reviewed the Korea-Japan agreement during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, but wanted to use anti-Japanese as a material to boost the regime.
Former Prime Minister Abe also held responsibility for the fact that the Japanese government restricted exports to South Korea of three items, including hydrogen fluoride, a key material for semiconductors and displays, and excluded South Korea from the white list after the South Korean Supreme Court ruling.
He said, “Korea has been responding to damage the foundation of its relationship with Japan. .
At the same time, he said that the ‘export management stricter’ proposed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry was a strict export procedure, and unlike export restrictions, there was no problem with the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
Former Prime Minister Abe took the position that export control and a ruling on compensation for forced labor were completely different issues, but admitted that the two issues were in fact closely intertwined.
They also criticized the South Korean government for making the decision to terminate the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) as an emotional response.
He protested, saying, “If we take countermeasures, we usually think of something constructive.”
The book also contains former Prime Minister Abe’s remarks about the situation at the time of the comfort women agreement in 2015.
“They (Korea) were cautious in the beginning because they had not kept their promise,” he said.
He added, “Although everyone has completely forgotten about my apology, I called former President Park Geun-hye to express my apology and remorse,” but added, “I did not acknowledge the forced detention.”
At the same time, he argued that successive prime ministers had agreed to not bring up the comfort women issue, and that Japan had been able to stand on a ‘moral advantage’ in terms of diplomacy by breaking the agreement (by South Korea).
Former Prime Minister Abe said that he ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take a strong stand against South Korea and China on historical issues, and attended the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, but did not exchange a word with Kim Yo-jong, vice minister of the North Korean Workers’ Party.
In addition, he thought that he had to put pressure on North Korea, but argued that the hardline stance toward North Korea was shaken because former US President Donald Trump started dialogue with North Korea.
Reporter Kwon Yoon-hee
