尹 Background of ’23 Minutes of Talking to the People’
After the trip, I polished the stationery all weekend
The length of the manuscript also increases by 15 minutes.
Harden your heart in the offensive ‘pro-Japan diplomacy’
Japan’s opposition party visits Korea and talks about persuading democracy
尹 “I was ashamed to hear that.”
President Yoon Seok-yeol’s remarks at the cabinet meeting on the 21st, which emphasized the need to restore Korea-Japan relations, lasted for about 23 minutes, with details no different from summarizing the ‘history of Korea-Japan relations’ and various figures.
Normally, all the comments at the State Council meeting are in the nature of a request or instruction to a member of the State Council, but this time, all the comments drew attention as they were made in the form of ‘discourse to the people’, such as referring to ‘the people’.
According to the presidency office, President Yoon made a decision to persuade the public even before his visit to Japan. A high-ranking official in the presidential office told the Seoul Shinmun on the 22nd, “I tried to explain to the public the reason for restoring Korea-Japan relations before the visit, but I decided it would be better to explain the results of the visit. visit to Japan after the visit.” In particular, in a poll conducted after the visit, the public’s negative opinion on the restoration of Korea-Japan relations was high, and the need for a message to the public increased even more.
President Yoon worked on the message himself throughout the weekend, and the length of the manuscript, which was originally expected to be 15 minutes, increased to more than 20 minutes. According to President Yoon’s instructions, the manuscript contained specific figures such as ‘the joint overseas project promoted by Korean and Japanese companies is estimated to be 270 trillion won’, and the speech of former President Park Chung- hee to the public at the time of diplomatic normalization. the relationship between Korea and Japan in 1965 and former President Kim Dae-jung’s 1998 speeches to the Japanese parliament were included and balanced between the camps.
In particular, the opposition’s offensive ‘pro-Japan diplomacy’ is said to have made President Yoon more determined by sending a message to the people himself. Another official in the presidential office said, “There was definitely a tendency of an emotional attitude towards Korea-Japan relations, and above all, the insults of critics focusing on the opposition continued to go beyond the limit. ” I thought I needed a persuasion message,” he said. As if targeting the opposition the day before, President Yoon expressed strong concern about the use of anti-Japanese sentiment in politics, saying, “There is forces in our society who seek political gain in clamoring for exclusive and anti-Japanese nationalism.”
President Yoon is also said to have said in a cabinet meeting that he was “ashamed to hear such a story” when the leadership of Japan’s largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, mentioned during his visit to Japan that he would “visit Korea soon. and persuade Korean opposition lawmakers.” Another official said, “It is unfortunate that the Korean opposition only opposes it.”
Reporter Ahn Seok
