President Yoon Suk Yeol extended another olive branch to mend relations between South Korea and Japan, saying Tokyo has “transformed from a militaristic aggressor into a partner” during his March 1 Independence Movement Day speech, Wednesday. “Now, more than a century after the March 1 Independence Movement, Japan has transformed from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner that shares universal values with us,” Yoon said during a ceremony to commemorate the peaceful protest that took place in 1919 to resist Japan's colonial rule.