In search ot the pertect apology: Korea's responses to the murayama statement

Abstract

Recent public opinion surveys show that the South Korean public has become either unaware of the 1995 Murayama Statement or confused about its core message in the absence of concrete measures by the Japanese government that would have converted the words of Japan's apology for its colonial past into policy measures. But rejecting the Murayama Statement's value as an important official document on historical reconciliation and justice would trap the political elites and the public in both South Korea and Japan in their own negative self-fulfilling prophecies, leading them to believe that it was a mistake to put their trust in the other government making genuine efforts to settle historical issues.