S. Korea marks 100th anniversary of Japanese colonization+

SEOUL, Aug. 29 Kyodo -
South Koreans on Sunday braved summer downpours to mark the 100th anniversary
of Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula with a rally, the unveiling of
a stone marker and a march that included scholars from Japan, local media
reported.
Japan had Korea sign the annexation treaty on Aug. 22, 1910, and it took effect
a week later.
''Aug. 29 is the day of humiliation when the Imperial Japan seized our national
sovereignty 100 years ago and started suppressing our people like we were
slaves,'' rally organizer Kim Young Il said.
Kim, head of the Korean Liberation Association, which represents some 6,600
independence fighters during the 1910-1945 colonial rule, said the rally,
attended by about 1,000 people at Tapgol Park in central Seoul, was organized
''so that we can recollect this day and never repeat such wrong and painful
history.''
Also Sunday, according to Yonhap News Agency, a coalition of some 117 civic
groups from South Korea and Japan held a ceremony to unveil a stone marker at
the former residence of Japan's colonial-era resident-general at the foot of
Mt. Namsan in Seoul, where the annexation treaty was signed.
About 20 scholars from the two countries held a silent march from Seoul's
Deoksu Royal Palace to the mountain to attend the stone marker unveiling
ceremony. The scholars then held a ceremony at a nearby hotel to commemorate
the anniversary.
Yonhap said Japan's harsh colonial rule has left deep scars on the hearts of
Koreans, noting that Koreans were banned from using their own language at
schools and forced to adopt Japanese names, while hundreds of thousands of
Koreans were also mobilized as forced laborers and sex slaves.
The Korea Herald newspaper said the annexation treaty ushered in ''historical
events that continue to undermine Korea's national pride.''
It said that while Seoul has long called the pact null and void as Japan forced
Korea to sign it and has demanded proper apologies, Tokyo has insisted the pact
was freely signed.
In a statement issued on Aug. 10, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan expressed
''deep remorse'' and ''heartfelt apology'' for Japan's past colonial rule,
admitting Japanese rule was imposed against the will of the Korean people.
''The Korean people of that time were deprived of their country and culture,
and their ethnic pride was deeply scarred by the colonial rule which was
imposed against their will under the political and military circumstances,''
Kan said.
South Korea has called the apology ''a step forward'' and urged Japan to show
its remorse through action.
But the statement fell short of mentioning the illegality of the pact,
prompting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to request ''a further step
forward'' by Japan in his speech marking the 65th anniversary of Korea's
Liberation Day on Aug. 15.
Civic group members rallied in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to this
end on Sunday.
North Korea, with which Japan still does not have diplomatic relations, on
Sunday dismissed Kan's apology as hypocritical, accused Japan of attempting to
justify its past aggression and urged it to compensate for atrocities during
its colonial rule of Korea.
''No matter how much water may flow under the bridge and how often the
generation is placed by a new one, the Korean people will never forget the
bloody aggression committed by the Japanese reactionaries but surely settle
accounts with them,'' said a statement carried by the Korean Central News
Agency.
''The Japanese reactionaries should sincerely repent of the past crimes and
make reparation for them,'' it said.
==Kyodo
2010-08-29 23:44:36