New PPP leader says S. Korea-Japan relations should be 'rewritten for future'

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- The newly elected leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) said Thursday that the relationship between South Korea and Japan should be rewritten for future generations as he voiced support for the government's compensation plan for forced labor victims.

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon made the remarks in the first Supreme Council meeting he presided over after winning the PPP leadership race a day earlier, three days after the government unveiled a plan to compensate victims of Japan's forced labor on its own without the involvement of Japanese firms.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP), some victims and civic groups have expressed outrage over the decision, arguing that it makes no sense to compensate victims with public donations, rather than money from Japanese companies that exploited forced labor victims.

"The Korea-Japan relationship should be newly written for the future generation," Kim said. "While the past cannot be changed, the future can."

Kim noted that Japan's repentance over its wartime wrongdoings is "not sufficient." Still, he claimed that South Korea should have a "global perspective" that matches its economic prowess.

The PPP leader took a swipe at the DP that has denounced the compensation plan as the country's worst-ever humiliation in history. He extended the criticism to the former government of Moon Jae-in.

"There is an aspect that the administration of Moon Jae-in bungled the issue of compensating forced labor victims," Kim said. "The DP regime did not consider national interests and the future, and has consistently proceeded with a petty and short-sighted perspective that only clings to party interests and the past."

Mentioning that the United States and the European Union welcomed the compensation plan, Kim called on the public and PPP members to support the plan for the country's future.

mlee@yna.co.kr
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