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South Korean president to attend China war anniversary

The event will mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese aggression.

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Whether Park would attend the military parade is a focus of attention amid media reports that the U.S. has expressed opposition to Park attending the September 3 parade.

China’s first large-scale parade since 2009, and the first to commemorate the end of its war with Japan in 1945, provoked criticism when it was announced earlier this year that columns of marching soldiers may traverse the symbolically resonant Tiananmen Square, site of the bloody June 1989 massacre.

But the mature assistant for worldwide matters Ju Chul Ki in Ms Playground told journalists no ultimate decision have been created on if the Leader might attend the occasion – an enormous military march within the Chinese capital.

Robert Kelly, a Korea analyst at Pusan National University in South Korea, said Park’s outreach to Beijing is not a tilt away from Washington but part of a long-term strategy to undermine the Sino-North Korea relationship.

“The announcement by South Korea is of great significance, since it will contribute a lot to China’s diplomatic efforts in organizing the events”.

Kelly said the message she is sending through personal diplomacy and increased economic ties is that an eventual unified Korea under Seoul’s leadership will be a stabilizing and peaceful regional presence.

It would also raise South Korea’s status in the eyes of the US, which is keen to see its two chief allies in the region get along.

China, which has invited more than 50 world leaders, has pushed hard for a decent turnout. In Shanghai, President Park is expected to attend a re-opening ceremony for the headquarters of Korea’s provisional government during Japan’s colonial rule.

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The government said Thursday it has requested the World Trade Organization to set up a dispute settlement panel to handle the case of South Korea’s import ban on Japanese fishery products. President Park’s office added there were no signs that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un or any high-ranking official from Pyongyang will attend the events.

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