"President Yoon: If Confident, There Is No Reason Not to Disclose the Conversations"
The Democratic Party of Korea urged the Presidential Office to properly clarify the truth regarding reports by Japanese local media that the comfort women agreement and Dokdo issue were raised at the Korea-Japan summit held on the 16th.
On the 19th, spokesperson Im O-kyung stated in a briefing, "Seiji Kihara, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, clearly confirmed right after the summit that 'the Dokdo issue was included, and they demanded faithful implementation of the comfort women agreement,' indicating that the sovereignty over Dokdo was discussed. However, the Presidential Office said, 'There was absolutely no talk related to Dokdo,'" criticizing, "One side between Korea and Japan is clearly lying."
Spokesperson Im pointed out, "The Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, who was a party to the summit, confirmed this and Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported it, yet the President of the Republic of Korea insists that such facts never existed," and asked, "If Japan's claim is not true, why do they not protest against the lies?"
He noted, "The decisive reason for Richard Nixon's voluntary resignation in the United States was 'lying,'" emphasizing, "That much, lies by government authorities are a serious issue."
He continued, "Once again, I ask the Yoon Suk-yeol Presidential Office: Were the comfort women agreement and Dokdo sovereignty raised at the summit?" and demanded, "President Yoon, who has claimed to be Korea's number one salesman, must clearly reveal the truth to the 'owner,' the people."
On the same day, floor spokesperson Oh Young-hwan also said in a written briefing, "Foreign Minister Park Jin claimed, 'Issues such as Dokdo or the comfort women were not discussed as agenda items,' but also said, 'It may not be appropriate to speak specifically about the summit's content,'" and questioned, "Does that mean Prime Minister Kishida made such remarks? Yet President Yoon did not respond firmly and remained silent?"
Floor spokesperson Oh asked again, "Did President Yoon go to Japan to beg for the restoration of diplomatic relations? Explain why he did not boldly question or protest," and asked again, "Are the comfort women agreement and Dokdo issue matters that must be kept confidential for national security?"
He added, "The Japanese government disclosed the summit's content to the media, but if President Yoon cannot disclose it, it is because he lacks the confidence to inform the people of the facts," criticizing, "Despite causing such a diplomatic disaster, they are promoting the visit to Japan as a historic decision and diplomatic achievement. This is truly a shameless president and government."
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