Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 11th criticized the government's 'third-party payment' solution for compensation for forced labor victims during Japanese colonial rule, saying, "The people are dumbfounded, and the president seems deaf," and claimed that "(President Yoon Suk-yeol) has brutally wounded the victims' scars and mercilessly trampled on the nation's pride."
At the '2nd Nationwide Rally Condemning the Forced Labor Compensation Solution Enforcement' hosted by the Korea-Japan Historical Justice and Peace Action at Seoul Plaza that day, Lee said, "What has become of this country that was built with the blood and lives of Kim Gu, Yu Gwan-sun, Ahn Jung-geun, and Yun Bong-gil?" and criticized, "The humiliating forced labor compensation plan has once again created a disgraceful situation of bowing down to Japan."
He added, "The president says the compensation plan respects the victims' positions, but I clearly heard the words of the victim grandmothers who said, 'We don't need that kind of money,'" and questioned, "How does this humiliating compensation plan respect the victims' positions?"
Lee also claimed, "Behind the enforcement of this humiliating compensation plan lie the Korea-Japan military support agreement and the Korea-US-Japan military alliance," and warned, "Using the excuse of Korea-US-Japan joint military exercises, the Self-Defense Forces' military boots may once again defile the Korean Peninsula." He emphasized, "Can Japan, which denies its past and war crimes, guarantee peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the world? We must not allow Japan to be brought to the Korean Peninsula under the name of military exercises, nor let the Korean Peninsula become a forward base for ideological confrontation."
Regarding President Yoon's visit to Japan next week, he evaluated, "Apart from the invitation letter to the presidential couple, has Japan conceded even a single thing? We have already given up Gando and the Gallbladder Islands, yet there is no compensation from war crime companies nor any lifting of export regulation sanctions," and added, "this Republic of Korea, which should be proud to the world, has become a 'pushover' to Japan."
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