U.S. denies asking President Park not to attend China ceremony

The United States Sunday denied a news report that it has asked South Korean President Park Geun-hye not to attend China's celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
  

Citing U.S. government and diplomatic sources, Japan's Kyodo News earlier reported that the U.S. government conveyed to South Korea that if Park attends the Sept. 3 ceremony in Beijing, it would send a false message to the world that China has cracked the U.S.-South Korea alliance.
  

The U.S. expressed its concerns through its embassy in Seoul and other channels, the report said.
  

"We did not tell President Park to not attend the ceremony in China," the White House said in response to a Yonhap News Agency's request for comment on the Kyodo report.
  

In Seoul, the South Korean Foreign Ministry also denied the report.
  

"The report is not true," a Foreign Ministry official said. "A situation like that would never happen."
  

China has invited world leaders to attend the huge military parade in September that is expected to highlight Japan's surrender in the war, but many Western leaders are likely to shun the event because it could trumpet China's rivalry with Japan.
  

South Korea also feels awkward about accepting China's invitation for the same reason. Additionally, Beijing has been increasingly assertive in territorial disputes with its neighbors.
  

Another embarrassing point is that the military parade will be staged at Tiananmen Square, where the Chinese Communist Party crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in a bloody crackdown in 1989.
  

South Korea and China are former battlefield foes as China fought alongside North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, while the United States and 20 other allied countries fought on South Korea's side under the U.N. flag.
  

But Seoul and Beijing have steadily improved ties since establishing diplomatic relations in 1992. (Yonhap)

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