The Emperor should hold hands with the so-called "comfort women" and make a personal apology if Tokyo wants to end the decades-old dispute, South Korea’s top lawmaker said.
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang said in an interview Thursday that Emperor Akihito — as "the son of the main culprit of war crimes" — should deliver the apology before his planned abdication in May. Moon was asked how the two U.S. allies could resolve a worsening diplomatic feud fueled by disagreements over Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula, much of it under his late father, Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa.
"It only takes one word from the prime minister, who represents Japan — I wish the Emperor would do it since he will step down soon," said Moon, South Korea's No. 2 elected official and a former presidential envoy to Japan. "Isn't he the son of the main culprit of war crimes?