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Two Koreas observe national holiday but divergent views remain

South Korean leader addressed Japan's wartime past in speech, while North Korea denounced the joint military exercises between the United States and South Korean forces.

By Elizabeth Shim
In separate statements on Sunday, North and South Korea said obstacles to unification remain, but each government citied different reasons. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI
In separate statements on Sunday, North and South Korea said obstacles to unification remain, but each government citied different reasons. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

SEOUL, March 2 (UPI) -- A public holiday observed in North and South Korea was marked by statements targeting Japan's wartime atrocities, while calling for solutions to national division.

South Korea's leader, Park Geun-hye, said Seoul and Tokyo have "regretfully failed to narrow the distance" between the two countries, citing the case of Korea's "comfort women," who served as sex slaves in the military brothels of wartime Japan.

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"This year two more victims passed away, with lifelong wounds still festering deep in their hearts," Park said Sunday.

Park said the Japanese government has yet to address this historical grievance as a human rights issue.

North Korea took a divergent approach on the annual holiday that marked the first civic movement against Japanese colonial rule in 1919.

The reclusive regime's official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, stated Japan should aim to end the distortion of its own history, reported South Korean news agency Yonhap.

But the North's propaganda arm, the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, also took the occasion to denounce the joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, taking aim at the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle military exercises that the North labeled as a "rash provocation headed for nuclear warfare."

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According to the U.S. military command in South Korea, Exercise Key Resolve involves 2,100 U.S. personnel, in addition to South Korean military forces.

Both governments said unification faced obstacles, but for different reasons.

Yonhap reported that North Korea's Rodong said Park's crackdown on individuals suspected of being North Korean sympathizers deter true reconciliation.

In her speech Sunday, Park said North Korea must stop spurning inter-Korean dialogue and move toward resuming exchange, including the resumption of regular reunions between separated family members in North and South Korea.

A day after the South Korean speech, U.S. undersecretary of state Wendy Sherman said on Monday friction among Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing is "understandable, but...can also be frustrating," the Financial Times reported.

"It is not hard for a political leader anywhere to earn cheap applause by vilifying a former enemy," Sherman said, according to the Financial Times.

Her comments have drawn South Korean criticism.

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