Although everybody can smell your hatred sweat against anything Korean, I?쨈ll answer you. Poland is only one example for the collaboration of many European countrymen(especially in Nazi-occupied Eastern European copuntries like Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Kroatia)with the Nazi war efforts. The Nazis used to recruit mostly “Aryan”-looking foreign forces for the Waffen-SS (military offspring of the infamous and notoriously criminal SS-units)and as guards for the concentration camps mainly in Poland and the Ukraine, which were used as industrial exstinction complexes. Especially the General-Gouvernement Poland was planned as a integrated part of the Third Reich, were slavic-looking Poles have been educated only elementary skills at school (”Poland was German since ancient times”, reading: German language, maths: only elementary arithmetics) to serve better as working slaves for the future German settlers and companies. There have been also widerspread infrastructure build-ups to have a fully springboard for the settlement of Germans in the vast territory of the Ukraine and Russia. The Nazis used the common anti-Semitism among the occupied populations, which existed as a folk tradition in this region. But there have been also righteous Polish resistance against the German invaders from the nationalistic and communistic groups. Many Poles fled to London and were part of the Allied Forces against Hitler. The last soldiers to defend the last bunker of Hitler in Berlin 1945 have been mostly French and Swedish Waffen-SS troops, who had nothing to loose in their home countries. So, if a applicate your thesises, not the German Nazis, but all the European people which had collaborators or forced enlists among the German war machinery are responsible for the sins of World War II? Come on, you are fooling yourself, Mr. “in dubio contra Corea”.

As a self-confessed Japanophile, let me make one point clear — I never said Japan was a benevolent power. In fact, I don’t believe benevolent powers exist — countries look out for No. 1, and that’s about it. What I have tried to argue, however, is that the Pacific War was not a clean cut case of good vs. evil. I mean, really, when it comes down to it, wasn’t the war fought over how China would get screwed — Japanese monogamy (the Co-prosperity Sphere) or an Anglo-American gangbang (the Open Door)? Mind you, I see nothing necessarily wrong with this, being that I don’t believe right and wrong exist in international politics (how many times have I said this), and if you must know, I would have pulled for the Americans, mostly on account of my being American, and in a world of shit (and one could accurately describe the world of the 1930s as just such a world), you might as well pull for the home team. Besides, given their respective global visions, the American one of 1945 certainly seemed a lot more pleasant than the Japanese one of 1941. That being said, however, let’s not bullshit ourselves as to how that war started and why it was fought — as Shin points out, I give the Koreans a lot of shit for bullshitting themselves about their own history, so I’m not prepared, as an American, to bullshit myself about my own country’s past.

I do not know much about the relationship between the Poles and the Nazis. Did the Poles suppport the Nazi war effort, too?

Pacific,

Korea was a part of the Japan that the US fought against in the Pacific. Many older Filipinos still claim to hate Koreans because of the cruelty they showed Filipinos as prison guards for the Japanese. Do not make the mistake of lumping Koreans in with other Asians when you talk about that war.

I am not blaming anyone. I am just telling you the facts. Koreans were part of the Japanese Empire. Koreans supported Japan’s war in China. Koreans fought with the Japanese. Koreans were executed as war criminals.

You, Pacific, are the one overlooking the facts when you try to group Koreans with the Chinese, Filipinos and other “Asians” who suffered at the hands of Japan. Koreans were on Japan’s side, not against her.

By the way, Daniel, the Rape of Nanjing has nothing to do with Korea, except that Koreans fervently supported Japan’s war with China. Japan was brutal to her enemies, but Koreans were not her enemies; they were members of the Japanese Empire fighting China.”-Gerry Bevers

If you change Japan with Nazi-Germany, Korea with Poland (or any other occupied East European country)and China with Soviet Russia, you can get a perfect excuse for Nazi Germany?쨈s criminal war aggression and mayhem in Europe. I?쨈m nearly speechless… Gerry Bever?쨈s comments are horrific.

You are mistaken. The Japanese did not “degrade” Empress Myeongseong by calling her Queen Min. She was Queen Min until King Kojong posthumously elevated her status to Empress Myeongseong. It sounds like you have been reading some of the anti-Japanese conspiracy theories floating around?

King Kojong’s father and Queen Min hated each other long before the Japanese became involved. The feud is reported to have really picked of steam with the death of King Kojong’s first son, Anwang, who many, including King Kojong’s father, believed was murdered by Queen Min.

Why would Queen Min murder her own son? Because Anwang was not her son. He was the son of a court lady named Lee.

The rumor is that Queen Min murdered Anwang to ensure the throne would go to her son, Sunjong, who was born feeble and not what people considered to be kingly. Anwang, on the other hand, was strong and bright and loved by the king’s father. Also, the lines on the palm of Anwang’s hand supposedly formed the Chinese character for “king.”

Anyway, the feud between Kojong’s father and Queen Min was long and bitter. It is generally recognized that even before her murder in 1895, Kojong’s father tried and failed to kill the queen. The Japanese did not have to threaten the king’s father or anybody else to kill Queen Min; she had a reputation for being heartless and had many enemies. Queen Min’s enemies among Korean officials, the king’s father, and the Japanese assassins must all share blame for her murder.

The Japanese did bring Korea prosperity and improved the life of the average Korean. Japan ended slavery in Korea, improved health services, built infrastructure, and developed public education.

By the way, Daniel, the Rape of Nanjing has nothing to do with Korea, except that Koreans fervently supported Japan’s war with China. Japan was brutal to her enemies, but Koreans were not her enemies; they were members of the Japanese Empire fighting China.

What false sources have I listed Daniel? And, by the way, where are the sources for your opinions?