The ruling Saenuri Party lashed out at a senior Japanese government official Wednesday for calling a revered Korean independence fighter a "criminal" in defiance of Seoul's repeated calls on Tokyo to repent for its colonial past.
On Tuesday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga expressed dismay over plans by South Korea and China to set up a monument honoring Ahn Jung-geun, a Korean independence fighter who assassinated Korea's first Japanese governor-general, Hirobumi Ito, in Harbin, China in October 1909.
During a regular press briefing, Suga emphasized Japan's stance on the issue.
"Japan has (repeatedly) delivered its position to the South Korean government that Ahn Jung-geun was a criminal," he said. "We will clearly deliver our position to South Korea."
The remarks sparked a public uproar in South Korea. Seoul's foreign ministry immediately expressed "deep regret" and demanded Japanese politicians humbly repent for the country's imperialist past.
On Wednesday, senior Saenuri Party lawmakers also decried the Japanese official's remarks.
"Martyr Ahn Jung-geun did not shoot at the heart of Hirobumi Ito, but at the heart of Japanese militarism that was invading Korea, China and other Asian nations," six-term lawmaker Rhee In-je said at a party meeting, denouncing Suga's remarks as "shameless."
Rep. Song Kwang-ho added: "After committing all sorts of atrocities against our people for 36 years, not only has Japan not repented, but it's now calling our respected martyr Ahn Jung-geun a criminal. If that's the level Japan is at, the country's future is truly dark."
Regarding Suga's remarks, the main opposition Democratic Party expressed concern that the Japanese government is moving toward re-militarization, saying Seoul should take active steps to deter those moves.
Relations between South Korea and Japan have soured since the Abe administration took office in Japan with an unrepentant attitude toward Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap News)
