The fun never stops. Tuesday being Japanese textbook approval day, the “stinging diplomatic war” between Korea and Japan has entered a new phase, apparently. I’ve learned to take this whole fiasco with something approximating a sense of humor — insanity such as this and this not withstanding — but even I have my limits, and reading this little blurb out of the Chosun sent me looking for something to throw at my computer monitor:
Korea also spearheads a “Know the Real Japan” campaign raising awareness of Japanese wartime atrocities in various international bodies. “We will raise the issue of the ‘comfort women’ in the UN Human Rights Commission’s committee on women’s and children’s human rights,” a Foreign Ministry official said, while North and South Korea on Monday condemned Japan during the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting in the Philippines.
South Korea’s going to raise the comfort women issue in the UNHRC? Is this the same South Korea that has sat out votes on North Korea for two years running and is looking to make it a third?
121 Comments
MMMM…. the world’s most homogenous and arguably most nationalistic country acting as a regional stabilizer. Let’s not touch on Korea’s xenophobia and ethnocentrism.
All this over a second-rate prefectural assembly’s non-binding resolution. The first rule about getting out of a hole is to stop digging. We haven’t entered that phase yet.
*sigh*…
The NY Times Sunday magazine was almost completely devoted to Japan–fashion, art food…”know the real Japan”…one of the Japanese broadcasters donated millions of dollars to the Louvre to renovate the Mona Lisa gallery. Koreans chop off their fingers and eat flags. OK, I know in a deomcracy people’s behavior can’t be totally controlled, but it’s gone beyond absurd and into an area where Korea is damaging itself far more than its supposed “enemies” are. Korea has a lot to learn about public relations.
By the way Mr. Marmot, your new(est) design looks good.
That’s awesome, Michael. I wish I could be in both Germany and USA at the same time. Or are you on a military base?
I’m in my own private idaho.
what human rights issues involving our dear brothers in north korea???????
Something i just realised also with the korean romanisation dhouldn’t ????? be written as “Dog island”??? wonder how the koreans like that?
You can make it appear that you are from anywhere you want. Just pick a proxy in the country you wish to appear to be from.
I know money is no replacement for war crimes and other bad acts, but do Koreans realize that the Japanese gave billions of dollars in the 70’s and 80’s, provided huge loans and authorized the transfers of core technologies to Korea, all of which greatly helped the country to develop? They were second only to the US in financial aid.
Yes the Koreans are behaving badly, and are perceived as amateurs on the world stage, but that doesn’t negate the fact the Japanese were way out of line to begin with. Koizumi has done nothing to console Korea or deny the claim, and the approved text books now claiming the islands as Japanese further demonstrates government approval. I’m used to amateurish behavior from the Roh administration, but remain perplexed as to why Japan would continue to throw rocks at bee’s nests while trying to convince the 5 permanent members of the UN security concil they are fit for a permanent seat, including China, whose citizens have collected 22 million signatures to try and block the effort? U.S. and EU backing at the U.N. doesn’t guarantee anything for Japan. China can still veto. I think they’ve already counted that chicken in the pot.
i wonder how korean government and media would react if china points out certain description in the korean history textbook has different interpretation than theirs.
as repeatedly stated, the japanese textbook in dispute is used 0.4%(or some source said 0.1%) in japanese schools. and it is natural that japanese textbook describe dokuto(takeshima) is a japanese territory because it is the official position of japanese government.
japanese, except some fishermen in shimane, dont care about takeshima, and just allow these fisherman some more area to fish so that they just become quiet and live happily ever after.
Snow, that $500 million Kim Dae-jun spent for a photo op with the Dear Leader would have gone a long way to help Koreans too. But apparently it’s sensible in Korea to pay off your enemies and insult your benefactors.
as a japanese taxpayer, personally i am against japan being a permanent member of UN security council. what would be a merit for japanese to be a member??? imposed more financial aid to UN? japanese dont even have a military force to shoot an enemy unless it is determined and proved we are attacked. in an era of modern military technology, i wonder how we can survive under such consititutional restriction. there should have been so many more things to do than trying to be a permanent member.
i felt sick when i saw politicians were spending so many days just to determine what firearms the “self-defense force” should bring over to iraq. (if japan doesnt have such restriction, whole takeshima dispute would have had different scene)
Being that the permanent seats on the sucurity council were given to the “victors” of WW2 does that mean that if Japan gets in that Germany will also? As for Tokdo, I suspect that China would come to the Aid of a Korea that is being faced with the loss of sovereign territory (Tokdo) by way of military intervention on the part of Japan just to prevent imperialist agression (the fact that it would set them up as THE regional power in Asia wouldn’t hurt them either). Koreans and Tokdo are commical but do show two important things: 1) that there is still alot of rage when it comes to Japan and its past abuses and 2) that Koreans in general are still very inexperienced when it comes to acting on the global stage of international politics. Both of these are unfortunate in that they lead not to prosperity but to further issues that somehow fail to be resolved.
james i alway wonder how much of the rage against japan, particualry in korea is “remaining” and how much of it is new rage cultivated by the media and government here. the younger people have no experience of the japanese rule in korea, but they are often the ones who have the most rage. and that doesn’t even consider the “rage” that is experienced agains america (for its war crimes maltreatment of korea???)
Its typical korea, they are so angry about the japanese textbooks, but not a word is mentioned about china’s textbooks or their claim to Goguryeo. Even after all my time here it still amazes me how stupid/racist/nationlistic/etc koreans can be.
rowan, it is easier to understand korean way of thinking in the following manner.
china, korea and japan are 3 brothers under confucian value.
china, the oldest, korea, the 2nd and japan the 3rd. the older one should helps the younger, and be always respected, and be never disobeyed.
so, even though china has had intervened politically over most of 5000years of korean history, koreans dont complain because it is the older brother. even no hard feeling about the fact china helped the north during the korean war.
but japan, you know well what happend. furthermore sad and irritating thing is japan does not even think korea as the older brother and paid no respect.
‘human rights commision? what about the north koreans?’ mr mamrot
the south koreans are being hypocritical just like condi rice was when she was in beijing lecturing the changs about human rights. we now abduct american citizens, torture those we call enemy combatants, secretly arrest and transport individuals to third world countries where all kinds of horrors can visited upon them, and do a good talk about democracy while we bomb folks into it. but you know what? you’re right; korea is being hypocritical here.
‘if we could do what we want militarily, there would be no tokdo problem.’ paraphrased from a statement made by poster ‘mae’
now, we see the real japan.
‘koreans are so racist!’ poster
and white people aren’t? btw, aren’t the japanese racist too? oh no, that’s right; they’re not racist against you, so their xenophobia is a-ok. that’s why i don’t respect many of you. you’re hypocrites and can’t even admit it.
korea’s attempt to lay the groundwork for modernization is the right course and will help far more north koreans than supporting sanctions that will starve the very people you say you care about. lesser of two evils my ass! who the hell are you to decide?
yo hae
marmot, make it stop! make it stop!
noolji maripkan, you ‘paraphrased’ mae as saying “if we could do what we want militarily, there would be no tokdo problem,” to which you said, “now, we see the real japan.”
but mae didn’t actually say that. she (he?) said, “if japan doesnt have such restriction, whole takeshima dispute would have had different scene.”
this was not an expression of desire to take over tokto but a point that japan has no military and can’t defend what it thinks is its territory, like in the 1950s when rhee firmly established control over tokto.
you don’t need to react to everything in such a shrill way like that last post. your reason is masked with emotion.
noolji is the Jiminy Cricket of this blog, but he is jealous of Pinocchio’s big…nose
maripkan,
you paraphrased me wrong. if japan had been free to use its military force, and if it counter-attacked the korean force “invaded” ,as described in the textbook, takeshima on ‘54, china would have intervened by making some excuse, or USSR would have done something, and there would have been a another proxy war after the korean war. and thru the war, maybe japan would have been forced to be devided.
or i can dream of several other “if”’s, like, these rocks would have been demolished thru the war(then there is no takeshima problem now, as you paraphrased.(^o^)v
and yes, my opinion more or less represents the real japan who dont care about the rocks as the real korean.
i think japan should maintain its military force as a “self-defense force”, still there should be more practical to defend the country by changing the constitution, though.
Gar, far more than 22 million Chinese regularly pledge “We hate Japan” on an annual basis here. Anti-Japanese fever is part of a campaign begun by the Party in 1990 with hopes of distracting the public from you-know-what.
Mae, Japan is already the number two financial contributor to the UN, and pays about 19% of the UN’s budget. The US pays around 22%. I’m fairly certain that Koizumi isn’t planning to buy the UNSC seat with more dues, but rather, to threaten to slash Japan’s contribution if the UNSC expansion plan is rebuffed.
Has any of Korea’s media done an expose on the Japanese textbooks, giving us the dirty, twisted details? Well, if it has, I haven’t seen it. The Korean media go on and on about Japan’s twisted, distorted, ultra right-wing history books, the worst of the worst, without going into detail of what the distortions are. Why is that?
So far, the most frequent example of the distortions I have seen mentioned in the Korean media is that the textbook says that Japan claims Tokdo. Now, does Japan claim Tokdo or not? If it does, then how is it a distortion to say that in the textbook?
Another so-called distortion in the textbook is that the Japanese colonization of Korea helped Korea’s development. Without knowing the details, I assume the text is referring to the development of Korea’s infrastructure, industry, public education, and health services. Is it also a distortion to mention those “facts”?
Finally, the one other distortion I have seen mentioned is that the textbook does not mention the “Comfort Women,” at least not specifically, so this could be called distortion by omission, a very common practice in textbooks around the world, including Korea’s. In fact, look in a Korean middle school textbook and try to find information about Korea’s role in World War II. Accept for referrences to the comfort women and forced mobilization, it is almost as if the war never happened. Also, there is only passing reference to the uprisings in Yosu and Jeju, and it does not mention anything about the number of deaths, at least not in the 2001 version I have.
If the Fusosha textbook did not mention the comfort women, maybe it should have, even if it was just a passing reference, but I have a feeling that Japanese middle school textbooks would still put to shame both Korea’s and China’s on an objectivity test.
Hey, maybe the US could get out of the UN and give their seat to Japan. Let someone else pick up the tab, too.
And why shouldn’t South Korea raise the issue of comfort women with UNHRC just because NK is involved, blah, blah,blah???
Is there a divide between North Korean women and South Korean women forced into sex slavery,until the political line at 38N drawn by Yankees and Commies?
Or is there a diff between Korean or Chinese or Indonesian or Dutch women forced into sex slavery by the Japs?
For once Nut-ji is right: whiteys will never accuse Japs of racism cos the Nips are their lapdogs. Oh, and they pay for the privilege,too…as the poster said about the Louvre makeover….
Snow
I find most people don’t even know the US gave aid to Korea let alone Japan. When I tell students the US gave millions after the Korean war they sit in utter denial. “Why would the US give us free money?” “It must have been a loan.” Are common phrases. When I tell them Japan gave millions as well they just think I am some big fat liar. Many just dig their heads in the ground even when I show them articles and books on the issue.
I find Korea is very much a do something for me and I will do something for you society. You come to my son’s wedding and give me 50,000 won and I will then go to your son’s wedding and pay 50,000 won. Why would anyone do something and not expect anything in return? Maybe one reason they can’t comprehend the aid from Japan and the US. There are some really great individuals that do a lot to help people and other countries but few and far between.
“I have a feeling that Japanese middle school textbooks would still put to shame both Korea??s and China??s on an objectivity test.”
As usual, Gerry misses the point again. We all agree every country distort history somewhat or have their own points of views. But Japan has the much greater responsiblity to be truthful about WWII. Can you understand why? That’s because they’re the ones who invaded other countries, and nobody likes to be forcibly invaded or colonized. That’s why. They’re the ones who changed the face of the entire Pacific Asia, of course they’re going to be ones taken the task for it. I would have loved to have seen Japan turn Hawaii or California into a prefecture of Takeshima, just so that I can hear what Gerry has to say.
gerry,
yes there are a number of places (mostly in korean) that are outlining the specific problems with the textbooks.
and it’s not just koreans and chinese complaining, there are people in japan who point out that the controversial textbooks violate japan’s own ‘asian neighbors policy.’
zhu tao,
if you can’t make your point without using racial slurs, then probably isn’t worth making in the first place.
Here’s something I’d like to see the South Korean media do: Review the textbooks which get used in other 99.6% of Japanese schools and see how they present Korea. If they give a less objectionable (to Koreans) account of Japan’s history in Asia, then tell Koreans the truth. If those textbooks also have “problems,” then clearly identify them. If they don’t have problems, then cease and decist with the propaganda.
(Not that this would happen, mind you.)
zhu tao,
i think you have totally missed the point. i think that everyone accepts that japanese (as a whole) are racist, so too are you and I to some extent, it seems to be human nature, but particuarly strong in NE Asia. the point was/is that korea is being increadibly hipocritical when they take the 50 year old issue of WWII human rights to the UN, but turn a blind eye to the current human rights abuses right next door.
Mae,
i’m not sure i fully agree with the confucian idea between china japan and korea. confucianism is a lot broader than just age, and in many respects japan should be positioned more highly. but good point anyway.
“I find most people don??t even know the US gave aid to Korea let alone Japan.”
While I can understand where this kind of sentiment comes from (mistrust of Korea as back stabbers), let’s look at these relationships objectively. Korea benefitted more than the US benefitted from Korea.
On the other hand the case of Japan is not so cut and dry. In 1965, as a normalization treaty, Japan gave Korea $300 million in grants and $500 million in loans. During the Park era, Japanese poured investments into Korea, giving Korea second hand technology. The entire industrial structure and economic model of Korea was based on the Japanese model. Korean companies bought Japanese components and assembled them in Korea for exports. Korea benefitted from Japan in this way, while Japan benefitted from Korea by recuping all their investment and much more to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars of trade surpluses over decades. Even last year alone, Japan recorded $25 billion in trade surplus with Korea. Korea buys components from Japan, insuring that as long as Korea sells more, Japan also indirectly sells more through Korea. It’s like a pyramid. This arrangement has been equally beneficial for both countries, but for Japan, it’s been much more beneficial in my opinion.
I think this is why Roh Mu Hyun calculates that he can carry a big stick against Japan. Japan’s function for Korea is as a supplier of components. Japan is not going to stop the business because they sell much more to Korea. Roh probably figures that if Japan somehow refuses to sell to Korea (which would be impossible anyway), then that would hurt in the short term, but it would not be the end of the world. It would force Korean companies to be much more innovative and it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. He also probably figures Japan is not as strategic for Korea as they once were. Korea’s central bank is overflowing with $200 billion+ and growing surplus so therefore they don’t need Japanese banks for lending, and more and more big Korean Chaebols industries are taking a page out of the Japanese text book, and are becoming technological giants who are doing their own innovations. The question is, is Roh overconfident?
Nora,
Why don’t you provide a list or at least some links to the articles that outline the specific problems with the textbooks. Here is a link to an article in Japan Today that talks about the textbooks. It has a little more detail than what I have seen in the Korean media.
Sa Hwa Dong,
Yes, all countries gloss over history to a certain extent, but Korean textbooks are especially bad. As I said previously, Korean middle school history books do not even acknowledge Korea’s role in World War II, and give hardly any credit to the US for liberating Korea. In fact, here is the only credit a Korean middle school history book gets the US for liberating Korea:
8.15 ???: ??????? 1945?? 8?? 15??, ?????? ?????? ???????? ??????????? ??????? ??????? ????????? ?????????. ????? ???????? ?????? ????, ?????, ???, ???? ? ??????????? ??????? ?? ?(?????? ????????, ????? ??????? ??????????? ??????? ???????? ?? ???? ????????? ????????????.
Finally, on August 15, 1945, our people escaped from Japanese domination and had their independence restored. Our independence was the result of the victory of the Allied Forces, including the USA, the UK, China, and the Soviet Union, but it was also the result of the long, stubborn resistence of our people fighting for independence at home and aboard.
That is it. That is all the credit the US gets for liberating Korea. After that quote, the text goes on to describe what Koreans did to win their independence. There is also no mention of the fact that Korea was an ally with Japan in World War II, only that Korea’s Independence Army joined with the Chinese to fight against the Japanese. The text does not even mention the fact that atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.
Sa Hwa Dong, Japan is not the only one with a responsibility to tell the truth about World War II.
Yankee is a racial slur. Awesome.
…..lest their own skeletons are released from the closet.
you mean: lest the skeletons are released from the closet and some foreign countries notice. the skeletons could be free and walking around the streets and koreans would still manage to ignore them. selective invisibility.
Lets not forget that over 100,000 koreans joined japan fight in manchuria and over 300,000 fought for japan against the allies. If those korens were “forced” then why didnt they turn their guns agains their slavemasters instead of shooting at their liberators? There was alos two POW camps in Korea during WWII. Koreas were willing and glad to serve the japanese empire.
Nowadays it seems that every korean will claim that they were forced to do this or that, but at the time the Koreans belived that Japan would win the war. They enlisted because they wanted a better life after the war. I know that some were forced. But sorry buddy, many yankees were forced to sign up too. Its called a draft.
Oh and Mae, good stuff. But korea doesnt have 5000 years of history. That falls under korean brainwashing. Their text books are full of stuff like that.
Gerry,
You are right about Korean history textbooks. Then, you must admit every country do this in some extent. Nobody wants to look bad to the next generation.
However, the real problem with Japan is that they have behaved badly. They have done terrible things in Korea and China about 70 years ago. That is not a long ago for most Asian people. Koreans, let alone the Chinese, cannot forgive and forget. specially when Japan still is insisting that they have done nothing wrong.
Imagine Germany doing this. Let’s assume German chanceller goes to Hitler’s grave every year to pay respect to him. Let’s assume German textbooks delete the crimes committed against Jews.
I think Americans, the French and the English will pretty mad at Gemans. Don’t you think?
Gerry, I suggest you re-read what I wrote. You missed the point again.
If the US government has a beef with Korean text books in ways that it portrays the US in Korean text books, then I suppose they can make a good case out of it. But bear in mind, Korea didn’t incorporate the US into a colony of Korea, nor did Korea violently put down March 1 movement in the US against Americans who wanted independence. So naturally there won’t be the same emotional attachments in America about this, other than maybe the few American Korean War Vets who would understably be upset.
But that’s not the subject what we’re discussing here, are we? Korea’s bitching is not about Japanese distorting their own history texts. Korea’s bitching about Japanese history text books not admitting its agressions in Asia pre and during WWII. That’s a huge difference there.
Of course it’s only natural that the scrutiny will be on Japan. Their war crimes went virtually unpunished after the war, except for a dozen Japanese classified as war criminals. Therefore, there has been no closure. The moral lesson of this story, don’t invade other countries or forcibly take something that’s not yours, then not admit that you did wrong, or else you’re going to be dogged through eternity by your neighbors.
As for your “Korea was an ally with Japan in World War II”, that just about sums up your biases, doesn’t it? Holy craps. How can Korea be an ally of Japan, if there was no Korea? Equating Korean collaborators who collaborated with Japan, with legally binding agreements between governments, is taking things too far, don’t you think? Jesus Christ, Bevers, you take the cake when it comes to biase. It’s laughable when you complain about lack of objectivity and bias. You’re the biggest defender and fan of the Japanese Asian Empire! ha ha ha. I’m surprised you don’t complain why Koreans don’t worship and thank General Tojo for his wonderful benevolant rule over Korea. ha ha ha ha.
It is official. Korean goverment strongly demanded Japan drop the textbook writings about Dokdo(Takeshima).
???????? 6?? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ?????????(????? ????(????)??? ???? ???????? ??????? ??????????? ???????? ??????????, ????????????쩫 ????? ??????? ???????? ????? ??????? ????? ??????? ????????? ??????????.
This could be the beginning of what the later generation may refer to as the WWIII. China, NK and SK will gang up on Japan. If the U.S gets involved, then it would be WWIII. The U.S. should sit out this one - it is just a regional conflict, nothing to do with the U.S.
Japan should back down. Japan has to wake up to the reality. Now is the time.
Sa Hwa Dong:
“Korea??s bitching is not about Japanese distorting their own history texts. Korea??s bitching about Japanese history text books not admitting its agressions in Asia pre and during WWII. That??s a huge difference there.”
I think you need to re-read your own post. Koreans are bitching about Japanese distorting history…..by not admitting their aggressions in their own text books.
And I think you’re missing the valid point that Gerry makes. Korea doesn’t give the most accurate historical view of history either. In the Seoul War Museum I found a sign that read:
“Through activities of the Righteous Armies, various resistance and independence movements both here and on foreign soil, and a strong sense of national unity, the long-awaited liberation of Korea was realized on 15 August 1945.” Didn’t mention anything about America defeating Japan. Nothing. (if you want, I can email you a picture of it.) Wouldn’t want to mention anything like that…it might make someone feel a twinge of guilt while out burning American flags.
I know the issue here is not Korean text books but it helps your credibility when calling on others to have ‘accurate’ history books if you can at least show that you do your best to do the same. From what I know of the subject, I think Japan has a lot of owning up to do…I think we agree on that.
baduk, what the Korean government is doing is wrong. This crisis was manufactured by the Korean government. It’s not even worth the issue to lose an important relationship with Japan. If they didn’t make such a bid deal over Tokdo, Japanese government would not have done what it did. This is at a time when there are far more pressing issues for Korea to solve. You can’t force anyone to look at things your way. The changes have to come within. Korea is not only driving a wedge between Korea and Japan, it’s also making Korea look very bad in the eyes of the world - maybe except in China, another rogue nation of inhuman rights. This is hardly something that Koreans can be happy and proud about. In Japan, angry and defiant Japanese are more toward their right wing nationalists as they gain an upper hand. The more force you press on them, the stronger the counter force.
Unfortunately, most Koreans in Korea don’t seem to realize how much of a jerk off they look like in the front of the rest of the world. Meanwhile Japan is winning the publicity battle outside of China. They keep poking with a stick and Korea keeps reacting like a mad dog.
I think I agree with Sa Hwa Dong on this last post. The government , media and public need to try playing a cooler hand. Laugh at Japan when they pass silly things like Takeshima Day. Possession is 9/10 of the law, isn’t it?
Seriously, the issue of admitting wrongs done to the countless Comfort Women (among others) far outweighs the value of some rocks out in the sea. If you’re gonna start a fight, it should be over something more than uninhabited rocks.
dabuk,
you should look at asahi newspaper and sankei newspaper(i am no so sure they have an english version) their opinion is 180deg. different. asahi (considered as one of sophisticated liberal paper)condemns the government approach to the textbook revision issue, and considering asashi is 2nd largest subscribers, it is not relevant to say japan doesnot regret what they have done in the past.
and while i dont say japanese did all good deed in asia in the past, who are the major contenders, i see only china and korea.
someone please give me the reason why taiwan has not bitched about the japanese occupation period.
korean cars sucks,
do you know the trade inbalance of japan in ‘53 when koreans often claimed japan made money out of the korean war? i dont have specific figure with me now, but i think it was more than $1 bil. deficit. and now, yes, samsung and lg have been doing good job, but still japan can sell compnents and materials to taiwan where there are similar industries. it is not worth claiming who wins the game, but at least i should say korean companies can not export as they do now without japanese components whereas japan can simply export to taiwan or even china. what president roh should do is to support small companies so that they can compete against japan and china, not just being a slave of samsung,lg or hyndae.
unfortunately korean government has not been doing good job on this issue.
Sa Hwa Dong,
there are 8 history textbooks and 7 of them somehow mentioned japan invaded china and korea. of course just remaks of this sort do not ease pain of ones being invaded. still dont generalize japanese textbooks dont admit the past wrongdoings.
zhu tao,
i hate the topic of “comfort women”. sorry to say that at that time korea and some part of china was a part of japan. majority of “comfort women” were japanese, and due to the status of korea and china at that time, it was inevitable for poor women of these region being a part of “comfort women”. but my point is not that japanese army forcefully drag only korean and chinese women into that status. whether or not “comfort women” should be existed in military, it should be a separate issue. doesnt any other country have “comfort women” during its war time? even though such argument does not forgive what japan did, i think it is more like human rights issue in general.
sorry for my lousy english because i was drunk from my dinner meeting where i had a lot of soju with korean buyers who ask for some discount of my products “because japanese govenment claims takeshima”….sigh
Sa Hwa Dong,
Koreans are “bitching” mainly about Tokdo. I have not seen any Korean media complain that the Japanese textbook did not admit Japan’s aggression in Asia. Where did you read that?
12 war criminals? You need to get your facts straight. I have read that at least 900 Japanese were executed in trails around Asia and many more were given prison terms.
That’s right, Sa Hwa Dong, there was no Korea since Korea was a part of the Japanese Empire, the same empire that invaded China and started the Pacific War. By 1937, if a vast majority of Koreans were not willing collaborators, they were, at least, passive participants. I even remember reading a Korean Comfort Woman’s confession, where she said she cheered and got excited over Japanese battle victories in the war. She said that the women felt they were Japanese, or something like that.
Japan’s assimilation program was working in Korea, which is why I think Korea’s history books do not like to talk about the part Koreans played in World War II.
dabuk
for your info, sankei newspaper is a parent company of fusosha, which publishes the textbook in question.
and i personally disagree with too much involvement of the japanese government on the “textbook issue”.
What do Korean history books say about Korean collaborators? I’ve read that many of the Korean women taken as Comfort Women were turned over by other Koreans. Every country should force itself to look at it’s own dark side…in order to hopefully learn from those mistakes. I wonder if future American history books will include the now infamous Abu Ghraib (sp?) torture photos. As an American, I’m deeply ashamed of those things that happened but sweeping it under the rug isn’t the answer.
If the issue is Comfort Women then they should be given their justice from both the Korean and Japanese men who participated. If it’s just an off-shoot of this whole Dokdo thing then it says something sad about current Korean thinking.
‘your reason is masked by emotion…’
well, no, it isn’t. i felt emotion, i wrote the post. see? no masking. just like you felt emotion reading nulji’s post and then decided to write terse response. who’s doing the masking here?
‘nut-ji…’
good one, lol!
check out the atimes.com for a story in it’s japan section called ‘china’s quandry…’ the japanese think korean nationalism is bad, wait till they get a whiff of the chinese variety.
gerry, why weren’t koreans interned during ww2 here in the states if korea was an ‘ally’ of japan? you’re getting close, ger, i may just start skipping your posts. careful….
Gerry, I think I know where your loyalties lie, and it’s with the Japanese foreign ministry of the Imperial Japan circa 1937. You have parroted, up to this point, every line that they have ever put out. May I ask why oh why in your viewpoint, Japan gets every benefit of the doubt in your book? And do tell us where you read this, I want to read it for myself to see if there really was something comparable to the size and scale of the Nuremberg trials:
“12 war criminals? You need to get your facts straight. I have read that at least 900 Japanese were executed in trails around Asia and many more were given prison terms.”
Otherwise, I think it’s pretty useless scratching and debating this with you because we’re not getting anywhere. Let’s just politely agree that we disagree.
Mae,
It will be very good news in the long run if Japan decide to stop selling to Korea. It will wipe out nearly $30 billion (by next year) trade deficit and force Korea to ween off reliance on Japan. I would say this would probably force Korea to reform, especially their education system. But honestly do you think Japanese companies will take a hit in the pocket books and refuse to ship their goodies to Korea? No, I don’t think so. The upper hand goes to Korea on this one, but I hope they’re not foolish enough to use it as a weapon.
Geronomo, no I haven’t missed Gerry’s points. I know what exactly he meant. My point is that there is a difference between Japan distoring history which effected the entire Asia, versus Korea distorting Korean history with very limited regional scope. Japan was an agressor, they started WWII. They killed a lot of non-Japanese outside of Japan. If they had killed only Japanese in Japan and distorted their history, nobody would care a damn. That sounds terrible and unfair, but that’s what the reality of human nature is.
Let’s go back to the Korean history texts for a minute. I don’t know how much have changed since the time when I was educated during the 1970’s. I’m referring to the portrayals of the US and UN roles in the Korean War in Korean school text books. When I was attending grade school, I was taught that the US under the role of the UN helped S.Korea during the Korean War. I remember being taught that the US helped S.Korea. This was during the Park Chung Hee government era. I can’t believe that much have changed over the period, unless the nationalist Korean teachers union had their hands in the pot. So what are the school text books teaching over there? (Gerry, I’m not interested in what you have to say, I want to hear from those who are more objective and who have seen the actual school text books).
Noolji,
Although I don’t agree with Gerry on the “ally” statement, I also don’t think your internment argument is valid in light of the German and Italian American populations not being put into camps during WWII.
Also, Mae is awesome.
‘the italiens and germans in the states weren’t interned…’
yes, but congress was moving to inter korean americans along with the japanese, why didn’t they follow through?
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20050407woa1.htm
business as usual.
and mae, korea got the upper hand economically; that’s why japan can’t really do much about the yemaek. glad to see sa hwa dong can also see this. is noolji all that crazy?
yo hae
mae,
Good to hear that not all Japanese are jumping on the war wagon. Only if the Japanese can be a little more submissive. And, if the Chinese be more civilized. Then, China-Japan-Korea can coexit peacefully. May even form a union similar to European Union.
But I know asians. We are still stuck at 1950s somewhere. Still like to play power games and hate to lose face. Rather die than lose face.
War!
Nora,
Why don??t you provide a list or at least some links to the articles that outline the specific problems with the textbooks.
because it’s not my job to do your homework. people have already posted links in comments on other topics and i don’t have the time to go look for things i have seen here and there when it is you who should be doing them. try to transcend your own biases on the issue and look. it’s not just about tokto/takeshima (which i think korea should not make too big a deal about, as far as the textbooks is concerned). even many japanese complain, as mae pointed out, about the biases in the textbooks.
Cloud,
While I agree that 0.4% or 0.04%, whichever the figure may be, is small, I think the issue’s about setting a precedent for future revisions. That said, getting this point across seems a diplomatic failure on South Korea’s part.
Bevers,
Perhaps more credit is due but I’m interested in seeing what you consider more appropriate.
BTW, I saw your comment in response to a Korea Times article. I had a good retort too, but didn’t realize all the fuss there would be just to register.
Mae,
I’m not an expert in history but I remember reading a blurb on Taiwan saying that Japan only had a civilian adminstration there, or something to that effect. That said, its something worth looking into.
Geronimo, etc,
I don’t know about Korean middle school books but I think it’d be a good thing if the two countries collaborated on a shared view of history. I mean, get similar things printed like placing the whole colonial period in a broader context like Japan’s modernisation and empire building being what more powerful countries did back then; understanding that Koreans would put more weight on their self determination; the existence of Korean collaborators; etc, etc. Also, make the explicit point about how people should deal with history: Koreans shouldn’t hate Japanese, Japanese accept Japan’s wrongdoings but it doesn’t mean Japanese are all quilty, etc, etc. Again, I don’t know if this is being done, but if not, I think it would help.
umetaro,
I agree. Mae is awesome.
JS Park, I like your idea about working together to come up with a history book. It would be a great idea to apply globally, not just in this case. Can you suggest it to a few of the governments?
Sa Hwa Dong - neither Gerry nor I said anything about the Korean War. Slow down…you’re reading too fast or you are just choosing to twist words intentionally, I don’t know. I offered to send you a photo from the Korean War Memorial Museum about what it said on WWII and its lack of credit to any foreign powers for the liberation of Korea. Gerry said he has a copy of a book from 2001 and his issue with THAT was it didn’t mention any estimates of those killed in the Yosu or Jeju uprisings. Do you know the difference between debate and just plain arguing? One is reasoned…point, counterpoint. The other is just raw emotion and usually complete lack of ability to reason.
And I completely disagree about your statement that only invading countries need to be held responsible: “If they had killed only Japanese in Japan and distorted their history, nobody would care a damn. That sounds terrible and unfair, but that??s what the reality of human nature is.” So, by your reasoning…people like Pol Pot, for instance, shouldn’t be held responsible for their crimes? And the Koreans who took those young Korean girls to the Japanese soldiers are just fine? No, I completely disagree. People do care even if you don’t.
Geronimo you said this:
“you??re reading too fast or you are just choosing to twist words intentionally”
then you said this:
“Do you know the difference between debate and just plain arguing? One is reasoned??point, counterpoint. The other is just raw emotion and usually complete lack of ability to reason.”
then you said this:
“So, by your reasoning???people like Pol Pot, for instance, shouldn??t be held responsible for their crimes? And the Koreans who took those young Korean girls to the Japanese soldiers are just fine? No, I completely disagree. People do care even if you don??t.”
And I say this: it looks like you’re doing the exact same thing that you accuse me of doing. Obviously that’s not what I meant and you are either reading too fast or you are just choosing to twist words intentionally, I don’t know. I didn’t say I didn’t care. I’m just spelling out the reality.
You said you were taught about America and Korea working together in the Korean War as a response to points made about WWII and the Yosu and Jeju uprisings. I offered (and still offer) to send you a photo from the Korean museum. You didn’t seem to want to see that. Instead…you tried changing what period of history I was talking about. Even in this last posting you still sidestepped it…because you made a mistake. Or, you did it intentionally.
And you are the one who said if Japan had killed only their own people then “nobody would care a damn”. I disagree with that. Whether it is applied to Japan, Cambodia, Korea, or America I believe people care about injustice. Not just when it is perpetrated by one country against another.
“You didn??t seem to want to see that”
I’m not interested in seeing that. If you say that is what you saw, then it must be true and I have no reason to doubt that (shrug). All I did was to ask how the Korean school text books have changed over the years since I’ve last looked at them, because I want to know. There was no ulterior motive intended.
“And you are the one who said if Japan had killed only their own people then ?橫nobody would care a damn??.”
OK poor choice of words. How can I explain this? Let’s take an example. Then you agree that Japan should come clean, even if you really don’t identify as strongly as with Korean comfort women, as whores they were (just being sarcastic here, that’s what Gerry probably would say). Those Koreans who sold out those girls should be punished. Japanese were innocent. It’s ridiculous to accuse Japan of being guilty of putting into place a system to round up these girls so that they can blow Japanese soldiers in the battlefields.
Another hyperbole:
Slavery in the US was good for the Blacks. It gave them names, educated them, and taught them God. Before that, Africans walked around with spears and rings around the noses. Many blacks sold out their own women to the slave traders. That’s because Africans wanted to be part of the civilized world. The US felt sorry for the African race so they wanted to help them out. Now look at these ingrates, they’re always moaning and bitching about slavery which happened hundreds of years ago. Look at their own atrocities that they perpetrated on themselves, how can they accuse others? How come African Americans don’t teach that to their kids? This is the kind of stuff Gerry is saying about Korea. I can see how insulting this may sound to Koreans but not to you. It’s not because you don’t care, or because you think what happened was right. You are just distanced from the experiences and therefore is not an emotional issue to you.
I agree totally with a comment baduk made further up: if westerners imagined the German chancellor laying wreaths on a shrine to Hitler and pshawing at the Holocaust, we’d be furious. Lots of our grandfathers died or were maimed stopping that madness.
Reading the posts of most here, I thought: Living in Korea as a non-Korean is stressful, and it’s tempting to seize on any opportunity to take a swipe back at the Koreans for the indignities they put us all through, but you have to try to keep your objectivity - in this particular issue, how the Japanese treat their recent past is disgraceful and its neighbors have a right to be mad. All the Japanese have to do is remove 12 names from a list, and publicly chide Shimane town council to not be so irresponsible. The fact that they don’t speaks volumes
Here’s a good summary of the latest brawling:
http://www.iht.com/articles/20.....etter.html
“Many Japanese have long believed, though many say so only privately, that China and South Korea use the past as a weapon to keep Japan down and politically neutered. South Korea and China, in turn, say the future depends on Japan coming to terms with its past.” About says it all.
I agree Japan should not gloss over the dark aspects of their own history. The Japanese soldiers, military, government (whoever) that set up the system are VERY guilty. If any of them were alive today I’d say bind and gag them and hand them over to any of their surviving victims. But I also think the Koreans who collaborated should also be held accountable, in the same way as the Japanese. Just because they were Korean doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be exposed and punished. They were equally guilty. The exploited their own compatriots. That’s low. I’ve heard grumblings from a lot of my older students that there were many of these people and that for the most part they got off without being exposed or held accountable. If Korea wants to be serious about accurately teaching history to the young generation they could easily start right there, while at the same time demanding Japan do more to own up to their attrocities.
As for the slavery issue…all the school books I studied in American schools taught that yes, Americans did those terrible things and that yes, Americans made groups like the KKK. We can’t, we mustn’t try to deny it.
I remember about two years ago when the huge protests were being carried out of the tragic deaths of the two school girls there was a backpage article (in the Korea Herald) about how a dozen or so surviving Comfort Women were still braving the cold every Saturday to protest in front of the Japanese embassy. The paper had a photo. there were, as I recall, 14 people in the photo. That’s it. The 12 survivors and only two other people would stand alongside these women. I felt sorry for those women not only because of what Japan had done but also because Koreans didn’t seem to want to stand up for them. If Koreans are really beginning to support these women’s cause then I say more power to them…but I’m afraid it’s more a matter of the media/govt/public using it to further inflame the anti-Japanese craze because of Dokdo.
damn … this is a long thread.
i’ve found koreans to be rather sensationalist. just as much as we are in the west. maybe moreso here! korean society moves very quickly. fashion changes quickly, music changes quickly, movies come and go very quickly. socially, i think they have a very short attention span.
so the whole dokdo drama has become the latest trend in korea. i mean, this has really been an issue for years, but nothing was done until now.
as for korea pointing out japanese attrocities … well, show me a country that doesn’t have a nasty side … korea should be careful, lest their own skeletons be released from the closet!
I agree totally with a comment baduk made further up: if westerners imagined the German chancellor laying wreaths on a shrine to Hitler and pshawing at the Holocaust, we??d be furious. Lots of our grandfathers died or were maimed stopping that madness.
didn’t ronald reagan get a whole bunch of criticism–both in the u.s. and in europe–for visiting a cemetary at bitburg (?) in the 1980s, which happened to have nazi soldiers?
koreans are not the only ones who have this kind of view of the past.
anjin wrote:
Living in Korea as a non-Korean is stressful, and it??s tempting to seize on any opportunity to take a swipe back at the Koreans for the indignities they put us all through, but you have to try to keep your objectivity - in this particular issue, how the Japanese treat their recent past is disgraceful and its neighbors have a right to be mad. All the Japanese have to do is remove 12 names from a list, and publicly chide Shimane town council to not be so irresponsible. The fact that they don??t speaks volumes
very well put.
geronimo wrote:
But I also think the Koreans who collaborated should also be held accountable, in the same way as the Japanese. Just because they were Korean doesn??t mean they shouldn??t be exposed and punished. They were equally guilty. The exploited their own compatriots. That??s low. I??ve heard grumblings from a lot of my older students that there were many of these people and that for the most part they got off without being exposed or held accountable. If Korea wants to be serious about accurately teaching history to the young generation they could easily start right there, while at the same time demanding Japan do more to own up to their attrocities.
you make a good point, geronimo, but it’s important to note that there are in fact many who agree with this. this was the reason for so much public support (not sure if it was majority support) behind the truth commissions here.
unfortunately the issue got undermined by the fact that part of the drive behind these truth commissions was politically motivated (an attempt to smear the opposition party, though it ended up backfiring to some degree).
the average person who bashes japan also wants to expose the koreans who aided them. many of them don’t realize what a pandora’s box that is, but at least they’re not being hypocritical.
Ducky
it’s interesting what you said about korea’s 5000 years of history, my korean partner teacher has just handed me a book called “A Panorama of 5000 Years: Korean History” … if it’s not true, then it’s a hell of a coup, because every korean believes it.
…
look, korea is far from innocent. and as for suporting japan, well the individual soldiers might not have had the sense to turn guns on the japanese, but i’m sure the government at the time was more than willing to assist japan *they probably believed that japan was going to win* … but koreans wont admit that either.
this is the most selectively ignorant country i’ve ever known … so many people here have no idea what’s going on unless they’re told … like i said, dokdo has been unresolved for years, but it’s a problem now? whatever!
how about korea working on the fact that it has the worst driving of any OEDC country. or one of the highest cancer rates in the world. or the blind beggars on the subway who should be cared for by government disability pensions.
… korea, like every country, has its share of shit … but none of that is an issue.
has anyone actually looked at pictures of dokdo? it’s just a bunch of damn rocks. the only reason it’s important is because of the water boundaries and fishing rights that come with it.
i can think of a few more important newspaper headlines than that …
but it was also the result of the long, stubborn resistence of our people fighting for independence at home and aboard.
That’s from a Korean text book? Thats a blatant distortion of history! The level of Korean resistance to the Japanese was insignificant.
Living in Korea as a non-Korean is stressful, and it??s tempting to seize on any opportunity to take a swipe back at the Koreans for the indignities they put us all through, but you have to try to keep your objectivity - in this particular issue, how the Japanese treat their recent past is disgraceful and its neighbors have a right to be mad.
All the Japanese have to do is remove 12 names from a list, and
publicly chide Shimane town council to not be so irresponsible. The fact that they don??t speaks volumes
very well put.
No, very badly put. Putting aside the insulting remark about foreigners in Korea taking political positions against Korea because of ’stress’, the inaptly named ‘anjin’ is dead wrong about removing the names from the Yasukuni Shrine. Japans constitution separates ‘church and state’, and the Yasukuni shrine is privately owned. The government cannot tell the shrine who they can and who they cant inter there.
By 1945, the average life expectancy in Korea was about 45 years, which means that by 1945 most Koreans had grown up knowing no other system of government than that of the Japanese. If a person were born and raised under the Japanese system, how could he or she be called a collaborator for simply being loyal to the only government he or she had ever known?
In the early years of colonial Korea, the label, “collaborator,” may have had significance, but by 1945, labeling anyone under the age of 45 a collaborator was generally unfair since most were simply being loyal citizens.
Japan lost the war, but fortunately for Koreans, the Allied Forces wanted to break up the Japanese Empire and gave Koreans the choice of being labeled “the defeated” or “the victims.” Well, with such choices, who can really blame Koreans for the choice they made? The only problem was that for Koreans to properly wear their new “victim” label, they were forced to do some pretty creative history writing or to simply gloss over the colonial period by saying, “It was hell.” The world believed them or, at least, pretended to, given what the Japanese did in other parts of Asia and given that the Allied Forces wanted to break up the Koreans and Japanese, anyway. Everyone seemed to ignore the fact that Taiwan and Korea were longtime members of the Japanese Empire, unlike China, the Philippines and other parts of Asia. Putting Koreans and Taiwanese into the same victim category as China and the Philippines is an insult to the Chinese and the Filipinos.
Sixty years later Koreans are still trying to figure out how to deal with their past without losing their victim label. The course the Roh administration presently seems to be taking is to sacrifice a few of the big-name “collaborators” for the greater good. Personally, I do not think it will work because, eventually, the truth will come out.
dave wrote:
look, korea is far from innocent. and as for suporting japan, well the individual soldiers might not have had the sense to turn guns on the japanese, but i??m sure the government at the time was more than willing to assist japan *they probably believed that japan was going to win* ?? but koreans wont admit that either.
psst… dave… the government at the time was the japanese government. korea was run by a string of japanese governors-general from the imperial army and navy, some of whom used it as a stepping stone for other important political posts. all were appointed by tokyo.
nora …
point taken … however my point was that aside from highly publicised attrocities by japanese towards koreans *which is a part of being “colonised” anyway* i doubt that the korean version of being taken over by japan is historically accurate.
that’s what korea is accusing japan of, distorting history … korea has never distorted history? especially in relation to japan?? come on!!!
this is the editorial of asahi newspaper on Apr.6 on the text issue.
http://www.asahi.com/english/H.....70140.html
sad remarks; they once promoted the return to north movement for koreans resided (or forcefully resided as some korean might want to say)in japan from 1959. approx. 100thou people went to the north by their (meaning asahi’s) propaganda. at that time, they literally described the life in the north was like a heaven on the earth…i really wish all the happiness for those 100thou people went up there.
shakuhachi wrote:
the inaptly named ???anjin?? is dead wrong about removing the names from the Yasukuni Shrine. Japans constitution separates ??church and state??, and the Yasukuni shrine is privately owned. The government cannot tell the shrine who they can and who they cant inter there.
so the prime minister or the diet cannot push privately owned yasukuni shrine to disenshrine the twelve class-a war criminals because of separation of church and state, but on the other hand, the prime minister and other government leaders make public visits there.
sounds like trying to have one’s cake and eat it, too. wouldn’t separation of church and state preclude visits there, some of which i believe were in a public capacity? even if one argues that these were personal visits by the person who happens to be prime minister (which i don’t think accurately describes all of them), that sounds like hair-splitting. did koizumi visit yasukuni shrine on a regular basis before becoming p.m.?
dave wrote:
point taken ?? however my point was that aside from highly publicised attrocities by japanese towards koreans *which is a part of being ??colonised?? anyway*
huh? so japan’s acts are justified because they were all part of the colonization process? or are you saying that if koreans complain about colonization, they shouldn’t complain about individual atrocities because then it’s redundant?
i doubt that the korean version of being taken over by japan is historically accurate.
you are undoubtedly correct. but as the colonizer who is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in korea and millions of deaths in china, the burden is on japan to be forthcoming.
that??s what korea is accusing japan of, distorting history ??? korea has never distorted history? especially in relation to japan?? come on!!!
korea distorts history far more than any country should. and i think people should take korea to task for it (especially the brits). i’d also like to see korea take china to task for its pro-north account of the korean war.
but see, none of this distracts from japan’s responsibilities. if korea had led to the brutal death of millions and wouldn’t come clean on it, i’d be very pissed. but that’s not the case. it is with japan, however.
nora, nora,
as i posted long time ago, yasukuni issue should be considered more as cultural difference. of course, i dont deny people using it politically, though.
we dont have culture and customs to beat dead body or dig up a grave and pulled out dead body to humiliate the dead for its wrongdoings as chinese (and possibly koreans who have unquestionably follow his big brother) do or did.
japanese society is different from korea where each president has to go to jail by his successor. (isnt DJK the very first one yet to be in jail?)
so please dont push too much on yasukuni issue as china does.
and yes, koizumi has been a frequent visitor to yasukuni before becoming p.m.
mae,
i don’t have a problem with the p.m. visiting yasukuni shrine per se, but it’s the class-a war criminals enshrined there that make this a sticky wicket.
as long as the class-a war criminals are enshrined there and the p.m. is making a visit there to pay respects to those enshrined there, the p.m. can reasonably be seen as paying respects to those who brutalized korea, china, and other countries prior prior to the end of the war.
and as long as that happens, those countries are going to (rightfully) complain and continue to reasonably distrust japan. it comes across as a japan that has learned nothing from its brutal past, and that translates into being a dangerous japan.
if japan is no longer the way it was then, then there are two simple options: the prime minister doesn’t visit yasukuni shrine (which is what murayama, hosokawa, and i believe others chose), or the offending class-a war criminals are disenshrined.
nora,
while i dont deny there were some attrocity at that time in japan, please provide me some evidence or specific numbers that japanese or its army killed “tens of thousands of koreans, or millions in china” by its atrocity (like nazi did to jews. i guess it would be more accrate for the sake of comparison not to include war casualties, though)
otherwise, i might just say, like, please! more koreans have been killed by koreans than japanese. the korean wars, guwanju, jeju, you name it. dont put a blame on japanese, comeon.
then it goes nowhere constructive.
speaking of numbers, korean population has almost doubled during the japanese colonization, from 13mil.on 1910 to 25mi. on 1942. this number tells something, i guess. (of couse this could be distorted, you might want to say)
nora,
i think it is only china, and korea who complains. and china does not care about yasukuni. they seek some excuses to condemn japan for taking advantage from japan to get some financial aid or preserver its regional power or whatever.
so even if p.m. of japan stops going there, there will be another excuse like being too nice to taiwanese, or japanese military budget increased(or sometimes stupid japanese politicians give an excuse). they are the real one who is totally politically motivated.
You can forget about Nora giving you any proof. She doesnt have any. Just like each time sombody askes her to cite the specific things in the “white washed” textbooks. Oh she will claim that there are dozens and the list is everywhere… but an actual list. Forget it. She is just repeating what she has been told.
Sombody said she just parrots her “hive” and I have to agree. Try and get just one Korean to differ from the party line. Good luck.
Dave, you do the math. If you buy that 5000 years of history bs then I have a bridge i want to sell you. Korea, as we know her borders, both north and south today, had no civilization earlier then 500BC. I am being generous. The koreans are using Dangun as a starting point. THen subtracing a few years to make themselves seem as historic as china. Dangun (2333bc) was created about 1290 AD to give korean a common herritage when the mongols were runing amok in Chosun. Did he exist. No.
mae wrote:
while i dont deny there were some attrocity at that time in japan, please provide me some evidence or specific numbers that japanese or its army killed ?橫tens of thousands of koreans, or millions in china?? by its atrocity (like nazi did to jews. i guess it would be more accrate for the sake of comparison not to include war casualties, though)
whoa… so we can’t include the millions killed by the war perpetrated by japan, since they are mere war casualties?
i don’t know how many were killed in the crackdown on the righteous armies, the crackdown on the samil movement, the general crackdown on dissent, the riots after the 1923 earthquake, deaths due to working conditions endured by forced laborers, etc. maybe without war casualties the number of dead koreans and chinese are much smaller, not in the tens of thousands or millions, but i think it is fair and reasonable to include the war dead, since the war dead are dead due to japan’s policies.
otherwise, i might just say, like, please! more koreans have been killed by koreans than japanese. the korean wars, guwanju, jeju, you name it. dont put a blame on japanese, comeon.
then it goes nowhere constructive.
but see, mae, i put the blame on anyone who is responsible for the death of innocent people. although i think it’s politically motivated to some degree, i think there is some value in the truth commissions that find out who really was responsible for the massacres you mention.
i’m not just picking on the japanese. i think south korea should take china to task for its distortions of the korean war. i think chinese textbooks should be more forthcoming about the cultural revolution and mao’s great leap forward.
i think koreans should also put into perspective that the americans may have killed more koreans on august 6 and august 9, 1945, then the japanese killed (not counting koreans who died while fighting in japanese uniform) from 1905 to 1945. if not, then close to it.
and the north koreans are responsible for millions of korean deaths, and the chinese indirectly for helping them. and yes, there are other atrocities. these should be made clear and made available to the general public.
but none of that excuses imperial japan for what it did and modern japan’s own efforts to cover it up.
speaking of numbers, korean population has almost doubled during the japanese colonization, from 13mil.on 1910 to 25mi. on 1942. this number tells something, i guess. (of couse this could be distorted, you might want to say)
it tells me millions of breeders were having unprotected sex.
what is that, a 3% growth rate? yeah, there were medical improvements during the time. the protestant missionaries deserve some credit for that, too. but could korea have accomplished this on its own if, say, the reformers were in power instead of korea being under japanese rule? was it necessary for japan to occupy korea, and occupy it brutally, in order for these things to happen? no.