Resolution to Nullify the Gando Agreement Submitted

On Friday, 59 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties, including Rep. Kim Won-woong of the Uri Party, submitted a “resolution to nullify the Gando Agreement.”

In this resolution, they insisted that “the Gando Agreement signed by China and Japan in 1909 is one of the Japanese government’s continental invasion policies. Japan gave Gando to Cheong, the name of the Chinese kingdom at that time, in order to receive other benefits, including the rights to build railroads in Manchuria. The agreement is invalid since the terrain Japan gave to Cheong was not Japan’s. Also, the Eulsa Treaty that the Gando Agreement was based on is invalid; therefore, the Gando Agreement is basically invalid from its roots.”

The resolution also discloses that “Japan gave Gando to Cheong without Korea’s consent. Therefore, the Gando Agreement does not meet the basic rules in agreements. The Eulsa Treaty, the base that colonial Japan used to exercise diplomatic rights on behalf of Korea, is fundamentally invalid according to the international law since the treaty was signed by force.”

It is also added in the resolution that in the peace agreement signed in 1952 between China and Japan, “all agreements, conventions, and treaties are nullified.” Therefore, the Gando Agreement, signed in 1909, should be nullified as well.

On the other hand, the leaders of the Uri Party have been negative towards the resolution, and the government looks to be in the position to treat this resolution as an obstacle in its diplomatic relationship with China. As a result, the resolution is expected to have difficulties being passed in the National Assembly.

Min-Hyuk Park mhpark@donga.com