South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun told the Diet on Monday that Japan and South Korea should be "free of the shadow of historical issues" and should emphasize future-oriented ties.
But Roh, whose behavior is being monitored by his domestic political adversaries, also said in his speech in the House of Representatives that South Korea and other Asian countries harbor "anxieties and doubts" over the ongoing debate here concerning national security legislation, along with moves in some quarters to revise the war-renouncing Constitution.
If such anxieties and doubts are not "groundless" nor solely based on emotions, then "it also signifies that Japan has yet been unable to fully complete all the homework that it has been unable to take care of in the past," Roh said.