politics

Ex-PM Aso to meet S Korean leader to mend ties

17 Comments

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© 2012 AFP

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I hope to see some improvement for the situation but what will a former prime minister and a lame duck talk?

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No doubt he will apologise for his family's use of Korean slave labour at the same time.

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I doubt that he will apologize. He seems pretty hard-headed to me.

Why should he anyhow? They never existed, according to rightwingers! They were "volunteers"! And "paid" well! From what I recall, I think they got paid like 110 yen after the war. That's big money!!!

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"Aso, who is close to LDP leader Shinzo Abe"

Oh well.

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Lee: Oh yeah! I remember you... were you four or five Japanese Prime Ministers ago? You come to apologize for your family getting rich off our slave labour?

Aso: I can't read the Chinese characters on your name card, sorry. But I brought comics!!!

Lee: Ummm... this is a comic about hatred and violence towards Korea.

Aso: Oops! Sorry... that's my bed-time reading. Take this one instead, it's porn!

Lee: Excuse me, but the title is "sex slaves". I think I'll pass.

Aso: Impossible! There is no such thing! It translates as 'volunteers', not slaves!

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Smith we can read Chinese Kanji characters. While I can not read a word of Korean. Am sure he can not read them as well. About the meeting well it might do some good. If South Korea softens it anti Japanese talk, it would allow the Japanese government to do things. I think we should drop all claims to the Liancourt Rocks. The Republic of Korea has to allow a atmosphere for Japan to do it.

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YuriOtaniOct. 07, 2012 - 12:50PM JST

About the meeting well it might do some good. If South Korea softens it anti Japanese talk,

Of course it will, Japanese at their best.

Send the ex-PM who said, while in office, the Japanese occupation of Japan at the beginning of the 20th Century was validtaed by the League Of Nations.

There was only one problem with that and it was soon pointed out to him... There was no League Of Nations, when Japan occupied Korea.

Are Americans really going to let their soldiers die for this idiot nation?

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It's funny how S.Korea has to "give in" to fix ties, while Japan is claiming their territories. Japan is no better than China.

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S Korea-Japan relations is actually better than what most international media says about it.I hope S Korean media especially try to find more positive news on their relations.

As the saying goes:Accentuate the Positive & Eliminate the Negative.But should the negative fallout in their relations reoccur again, both sides should talk to each other even more frequently than before.We cannot do much about the past, but we can afford to live in a better future and brighter tomorrow if our both countries open our minds and hearts to each other today.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"The two nations have long been at odds over Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea"

Interesting sentence.

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YuriOtani: "Smith we can read Chinese Kanji characters. While I can not read a word of Korean."

Once again, you blow it in terms of knowledge. Koreans study Chinese characters as well, and call them 'hanza'. What's more, Korean names all have Chinese characters attributed to them, hence the name card point. Third, and where you blow it worst, Aso is renowned for being unable to use Japanese correctly -- he cannot read a lot of GU Kanji. To give the man credit, his inability to read Kanji spawned a rise in Kanji puzzles, game-shows on Kanji, and heaps of books about Kanji (increased the number of people doing calligraphy and taking the 漢字検定 as well!), but the man was a moron of his own language.

So there you go, Yuri. No one was asked you to read a word of Korean, though it might suit you to learn some just for the sake of understanding, but Koreans do still study Chinese characters and use them in their names (note: CHINESE characters, not the Japanified Kanji).

Zing.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Dog: "There was only one problem with that and it was soon pointed out to him... There was no League Of Nations, when Japan occupied Korea."

Ouch! My guess is Yuri won't be back on this thread any sooner than when she was proven utterly hypocritical on the penis severing issue a few weeks back. She doesn't like to show up when she has to face the facts. And here it's you, pointing out how utterly inappropriate Aso is as the man to do this job, and rightly so. The Japanese have no clue as to whom would make good ambassadors (hence they choose AKB, a name quickly going down the drain, to try and help the suicidal!).

Only in Japan.

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Ok. As an American, I apologize for the defacto US Occupation of South Korea while the PRC poured troops across the Yalu River. And, the US Occupation of Japan. Now, to show good faith, Japan and others claiming the Senkaku's can give them back to US Military control so we can fly in some miscreants from Guantanamo to our new holiday islet retreat/spa. Ok? Thanx.

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smithinjapan, little bit of Hanja is not learned after high school. Japanese still writes with Chinese characters.

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Back on topic please.

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breakingpoint: I know Koreans don't use Hanja in everyday writing, but as I said before, and which you guys seem to miss, all Korean names are based on Hanja and most if not all name cards have Chinese characters on them as well as Hangul and possibly Roman characters. Yes, Japanese still write -- or at least text -- using Chinese characters, it does not change the fact that Aso cannot read them. Hence, my original joke.

Aso is not a very good choice for this particular job.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Aso was a crappy PM, but is actually a good guy. I've grown to like him a lot more since he stepped down - he's very self effacing and good humoured about his time as PM. This is the perfect role for him.

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