"The 'treaty', signed by a Japanese envoy and the Korean Foreign Minister, Pak Je Sun, on November 17, 1905, took neither my recognition nor the royal seal." This is part of a letter sent by the then King of Korea Kojong in January 1906 to heads of state of the United States, Czarist Russia and Germany and other countries.

The "treaty" allowed Japan to take over the diplomatic rights from Korea's feudal government and establish Japan's residency-general in Korea to assume the reins of this government.

The Japanese imperialists employed such despicable means as threat, blackmail and allurement to force the Korean ministers to agree with the conclusion of the "treaty". They dispatched some of the military personnel, mobilized in the Russo-Japanese War, to Seoul and threatened the feudal government with force.

But, the council meeting, held at the royal palace in presence of Kojong on Nov. 17, 1905, decided to stand against the signing of the "treaty".

Upset by it, the Japanese imperialists forced the ministers to hold a cabinet meeting and threatened them to agree with the signing. And they stamped the "treaty" with the foreign ministry's official seal by themselves.

The "treaty" had neither the king's signature nor the royal seal. So, the United Nations Commission on International Law, in a report presented to the UN General Assembly in 1963, declared the "Ulsa Five-Point Treaty" invalid as it was cooked up by dint of power.

The Japanese reactionaries will never flee from the responsibility for the past crimes, but should follow the trend of the times toward the settlement of the past.

Steadfast is the Korean people's will to unfailingly settle account with Japan's past crimes.