Ruling Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung says the United States is partially responsible for Korea’s painful modern history, including Japan’s annexation of the Korean Peninsula, division of the two Koreas and the Korean War.
In a meeting with visiting U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff(D-GA) in Seoul on Friday, Lee said South Korea won the Korean War, maintained its system and has grown into an advanced economy thanks to the U.S.’ assistance and cooperation.
Behind such “massive progress,” there were still “relatively smaller but darker issues,” he said, noting the U.S. had approved of Japan’s annexation of the Korean peninsula through their 1905 Taft-Katsura Agreement.
Lee said the second World War also ended up, not with the division of Japan, the perpetrator, but the division of the Korean Peninsula, the victim, which then led to another war, referring to the 1950-53 internecine war.
In response, Ossoff reportedly mentioned his visit to the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul the previous day to honor the sacrifice of U.S. soldiers who fell while fighting alongside their South Korean allies to the protect the South. He also said it brought home the importance and perpetuity of the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
Source: KBS World Radio