The air raid horns sounded at 10:00 today as I was playing with my daughter. It was a poignant reminder of the sacrifices that Korean soldiers made protect this country.
As an American, I think this is also an opportune time to thank the Koreans who fought alongside our soldiers in the Vietnam War.
UPDATE: I guess I should point out to overseas readers that today is Korea’s Memorial Day. The siren I wrote about before was sounded all over Korea to honor the nation’s fallen heroes.
18 Comments
I second your sentiments and hope that peace comes to the peninsula soon.
Young people think freedom came easy. They are so wrong.
1) The US soldiers fought in pacific islands suffering heavy casualties at each island.
2) Korea got independence from Japan due to these sacrifices. By-product, I admit, but many lives nonetheless.
3) Russia and China wanted to crush Korean freedom. They succeeded in NK but SK kept personal freedom.
4) When Kim IlSung of NK invaded SK to take away freedom from Korean people, many countries came to protect it. Many Korean soldiers died in their youth as did many young men from foreign countries.
Korea at the present time is again in danger of loosing freedom. China, Russia and even Japan may like to take away freedom from Korean people and subjugate Korean people under a dictator, whom they can order around. Just look at NK.
Don’t say the cold war ended and the world is much safer place. Nations fight. Weak ones like Korea can be eaten up any time. With China, Russia and Japan in heavy military buildup, only way for Korea to survive is to stick to the US.
Yet, the present administration and so-called learned scholars are advocating anti-American attitude. Korea may not have defended its freedom at all; it may just have postponed the Northern takeover by fifty plus years with help of American troops. Now, they are leaving.
Yes, good wishes for all those Korean War soldiers who did their bit back then and hope that Koreans likewise choose to remember the foreigners who came here to help them out all those years ago.
It would be a nice change to see the flags of all UN Command nations involved, along with the Taegugki, flown from peoples’ balconies (not holding my breath for that one though).
We don’t have to look that far back in history. We are getting some aid in Iraq today from the ROK. It would be nice to see some conbat support but we should take what we can get.
I’m sorry, but i’m going to have to play the ‘white guy foaming at the mouth” on this one, but honestly, what in the world make you think Japan is looking to takeover Korea? Or even Russia for that matter? China, I can see, NK, it’s a gimme, but Japan? If you can come up with an answer other then, “those dirty Jap assholes did it before so they’ll do it again” I’ll give you a cookie.
… I have no cookies on hand and am not rushing to the store to find any at the moment, to give you an idea how much confidence I have.
Huh? Japan? Heavy millitary build up? Isn’t Korea the one that keeps pumping out offensive weapons and Japan that has defense weapons? Doesn’t Korea’s Navy symbol distinctly display their latest war ship firing missiles at Japan?
I would be more concerned about Korea being a threat to Japan since they are going out and actually threatoning Japan so much.
As for the actual post, yes, peace is good. Peace needs to be kept, and the sacrifices made for peace must never be forgotten. However I don’t know how good of an idea it is to sound the air raid sirens as I persoanlly would have though I was being air raided considering Captain Crazy up North and all.
Darin, I don’t think at the present time there is anything at all to fear (and to be fair, Baduk implied it was the least likely aggressor). The status quo absolutely prevents it. But, there are more than a few people trying to toss out the status quo (and not all of them are in Japan).
That certainly is a goal of Japan’s far right. And what do they have to say about this? Well, the Yushukan Museum at Yasukuni Shrine, about Japan’s takeover of Korea, says this:
If Japan’s right wing gets its way and Japan scraps its pacifist constitution, all bets are off, since the status quo that has made Japan a model country for the past half century would have been scrapped. Will a militarily resurgent Japan seek to make Korea a security buffer?
The solution is for Seoul and Tokyo now to work together to assure the other through action and ded that — certain issues notwithstanding — they are economic, political, and military allies.
Wow!
Darin, I think you are reading too many ultra-nationalistic fictions or manga.
Kushibo, I’m not interested in getting into another arguemnt over Yasukuni with you. You’ve said all you have to say, I’ve said I’ll I have to say. But I will say I think you’re wrong on this one as not to give anyone the impression that what you’re displaying as 100% fact is anything close to 100% or even fact.
What, did you miss this?
http://kuki1.stoo.com/news/html/000/485/943.html
“those dirty Jap assholes did it before so they’ll do it again”
Darin said it, not me. He is right.
Darin wrote:
Kushibo, I’m not interested in getting into another arguemnt over Yasukuni with you. You’ve said all you have to say, I’ve said I’ll I have to say. But I will say I think you’re wrong on this one as not to give anyone the impression that what you’re displaying as 100% fact is anything close to 100% or even fact.
I’m wrong? The quote…
…is a direct quote from the museum (which, yes, I have visited).
Am I wrong about the right wing’s intentions? Perhaps, but in the last century, Japanese militarists’ plans for expansion took several decades to achieve fruition, so why should it be different this time?
You telling me I’m wrong and that you reject a “they did it before so they’ll do it again” argument. Why? I certainly apply the same logic to Korea: isolationism in the face of foreign threats and challenges has been an easy out for the intellectually lazy in Korea; this was true 120 years ago and it’s true today. I would be remiss to think that Japan is so cleanly severed from its past deeds and ways of thinking.
You are applying a skewed logic that doesn’t hold water: pacifist Japan in the past half century has been a model of international good will, so we have nothing to fear from undermining Japan’s pacifist institutions.
Your insistence that there is nothing to worry about reminds me of this Time Magazine piece from 1924, which expressed a similar sentiment in the decade before Japan launched the Pacific War:
Me, I like Japan the way it is. The status quo works, and it has helped make Japan a nation to look up to in the last half of the 20th century and today. So, yeah, I will decry those who reject Japan’s guilt over World War II by saying Japan “was forced into war,” who suggest that the terms of surrender (including the pacifist constitution) were illegitimate, and who now are also trying to dismantle the institutions that have made Japan a very good and peaceful neighbor.
Until your right-wingers actually do something, you are wrong. Praying for peace and the rememberance of dead people who died in times that where not peaceful, VS launching war ships. Hmmm….. Playing war games where you defend terrain like your homeland, VS playing war games where you invade your neighbor… Hmm… One of these is Japan, and the other is S. Korea. Do you read the news enough to know which?
Also, that right there is your “those dirty Jap assholes did it before so they’ll do it again” statement — NO COOKIE FOR YOU (Oh how I wish I would have said I’d give soup to originally so I could say, no soup for you instead.) I’m also surprised you came out and said it this direct, I thougt you’d desguise yourself better. “They did it before, so they’ll do it again.” You fully expect Japan to be preparing to invade any day, so you go out and look for things to prove you right and then say, “HA! I told you so!” when others can’t prove you wrong. One doesn’t prove a negative, it’s the responsibility of the accusor to provide proof, and you ain’t got none other then “this time.” You’re base for looking for something to prove your claim that Japan is going to do it again is simply that it’s Japan. Wait, no it’s not, it’s not the same Japan. 1900’s Japan was facist like Itally, not mordern Japan. I guess the only thing that is the same is the Japanese race. There is a word for pre-determining someone’s actions bassed soley on their race or actions of other members of the same race either at present or in the past, but I just can’t put my finger on it right now…. Hmm… I think it started with an ‘R’ but, ah yes, now I remember.
Re-stupi-licious-expialidocious.
You’re like G.W. with the preconceived notion that Iraw was going to attack the US, so you didn’t see the truth, you just found the truth you wanted to find. It’s not my job to prove a negative, as long as Japan isn’t invading, you’re dead wrong.
And what, you have no comment on S. Korea’s new emblom? That is where one should be worried about a threat to the securtiy of the region. Possibly even more-so then N. Korea becuase the South will happily do the North’s bidding thinking it will make Kim^2 smile upon his ‘brothers’ (who he’ll kill whenever he get’s the chance - nice brother) to the South.
” The status quo works, and it has helped make Japan a nation to look up to in the last half of the 20th century and today.”
Huh??? Japan is a country that I look up to in terms of its technological advancement. But on other aspects, I look down. I have seen some of their TV programs, and I just don’t get what is so funny about them. They don’t even have a military any more, highly restrictive. At least South Korea used to be like them but is now gaining back more and more sovereignty. The thing about Japan is that despite all this, it could turn 180 anytime nevertheless But in general, I am not very impress with Japan’s progress towards independence, sovereignty, principles, cultural and social developments. I recommend every Japanese ought to make Sintaro Ishihara’s book required reading.
Gentlemen,
Koreans…
who served…
their country.
That is the topic of this post.
Out of respect for Andy Jackson’s request, this will be my last response to this issue with Darin.
Am I wrong about the right wing’s intentions?
Until your right-wingers actually do something, you are wrong.
Trying to dismantle the pacifist constitution, having the fourth most expensive military in the world (twice as expensive as Korea’s), declaring that the Japan’s occupation of Korea was legitimate and necessary for its own security, downplaying past atrocities, honoring warmongers as war heroes when they did not die in war, etc., etc.
Yes, yes, I know. This is all just “praying for peace.”
Perhaps, but in the last century, Japanese militarists’ plans for expansion took several decades to achieve fruition, so why should it be different this time?
Also, that right there is your “those dirty Jap assholes did it before so they’ll do it again” statement — NO COOKIE FOR YOU
No, this is not “those dirty Jap assholes did it before so they’ll do it again.”
1. I don’t think Japanese in general are assholes, nor dirty. And I find your use of the word “Jap” highly offensive, particularly when you attribute that sentiment to me.
2. It is perfectly legitimate to use past actions of a government based to gain a perspective on what might happen in the future. I am stating that it is illegitimate for you to dismiss this just because it’s inconvenient to your world view and your perspective on Japan.
2a. I applied the exact same thing to modern Korea: knee-jerk isolationism in the face of external threats was the norm in the past, and there are indications that for some Koreans in power, this would still be the preferred reaction of some Koreans in power, if they can get away with it. So here, like with Japan, is a case where it is prudent to look to the past to see signs of it slowly heading toward being repeated.
2b. The right-wing in Japan has members who have privately and publicly indicated a rejection of the modern mindset you ascribe to everyone in Japan: i.e., a rejection of Japan’s pacifist role, declarations that the terms of peace were forced on Japan and therefore illegitimate, etc., etc. The Mein Kampf of Japan is the Yasukuni Shrine’s Yushukan Museum. It is a warning for all to see.
It’s prudent to point out that there are people in power who either believe in this or are pandering to those who believe in it. This is NOT most people in Japan.
I’m also surprised you came out and said it this direct, I thougt you’d desguise yourself better.
I am rejecting your idea that the past is not an indication of future possibility (emphasis on possibility; I never said “they WILL do it again,” only that it is prudent to watch out for the people who are actively — and often very clearly — seeking to undermine what has made Japan a good neighbor in the past half century).
The United States is repeating many of the mistakes of Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s in Iraq today.
Some of Korea’s ruling party are repeating the same mistakes of isolationism in the past.
And we have people in Japan who are trying to undermine Japan’s peaceful existence right now, with rhetoric that the past really wasn’t so bad, so much of it was misunderstood.
“They did it before, so they’ll do it again.” You fully expect Japan to be preparing to invade any day, so you go out and look for things to prove you right and then say, “HA! I told you so!” when others can’t prove you wrong.
Darin, did you completely miss the several times where I described Japan as a good or model or peaceful neighbor over the last half century? You keep trying to characterize my argument in such a way because you really don’t understand what I’m saying. It is not my concern that Japan today will attack its neighbors (a highly unlikely situation, with a close to zero possibility); it is my concern that there are people who are very obviously trying to undermine and dismantle what has made Japan a peaceful neighbor.
You’re base for looking for something to prove your claim that Japan is going to do it again is simply that it’s Japan.
Again, you’re wrong. I do not think any of this is intrinsic to it being Japan. Most Japanese, as far as I’m aware, do not support the same things I am concerned could happen.
Wait, no it’s not, it’s not the same Japan. 1900’s Japan was facist like Itally, not mordern Japan.
Yes, and you have right-wing politicians today trying to justify, excuse, explain away, or deny what happened then. I’m not concerned about Japanese in general — who do seem to get it, mostly — but those small few who are beginning to exert a disproportional amount of influence. Visits to Yasukuni Shrine are a lithmus test: those who visit are either supporters of the revisionist view or they are pandering to those who support the revisionist view.
I guess the only thing that is the same is the Japanese race. There is a word for pre-determining someone’s actions bassed soley on their race or actions of other members of the same race either at present or in the past, but I just can’t put my finger on it right now…. Hmm… I think it started with an ‘R’ but, ah yes, now I remember.
Fuck off, Darin. I did not by any stretch of a sane imagination do as you described. I never suggested because they are Japanese they are inclined to do this. In fact, I have indicated or stated the opposite a number of times. My concern is with right-wing politicians who are glorifying or excusing Japan’s past, something which has ZERO racial component.
You calling me racist against Japanese is so entirely off the mark. For those who know me, Darin, what you said is about the stupidest thing imaginable.
You’re like G.W. with the preconceived notion that Iraw was going to attack the US, so you didn’t see the truth, you just found the truth you wanted to find.
No, Darin. I have no preconceived notion here. My entire point is that I don’t think Japan is in a bad place; my concern is with people who are trying to change that, since they are gaining and trying to exert greater power.
It’s not my job to prove a negative, as long as Japan isn’t invading, you’re dead wrong.
As long as right wing people are promoting their agenda to undermine Japan’s post-war pacifist legacy and the institutions and actions that have supported that, then I am dead right.
And what, you have no comment on S. Korea’s new emblom? That is where one should be worried about a threat to the securtiy of the region.
Yes, because South Korea has been such a military threat to China, Japan, North Korea, Taiwan, and everyone else in the area.
Hey now, you don’t have to be respectfull to me, but do be respectful to the people who died so you can sit in your office and type this.
Darin,
Just read a link that you refer to…
“초대함장과 200여 수병이 직접 마크를 디자인했다는 설명을 들었다”고 전했다. 일본 대사관측에서 일본이 그려져 있지 않다며 항의를 해온 적도 있다. 신 처장은 “당시 함장은 ‘마크가 복잡해질까봐 일본을 그려 넣지 않았다. 남의 나라 군함마크에 신경쓰지 말라’고 답변했다고 했다”며 관련 일화도 소개했다.”….
I do not know if there’s any navy, air forces, army in any country did get, or have to get, a permission from other country especially when they draw it’s mark (symbol) on an airplane, a tank, or a vessel. Is that real treat to Japan?
Is this reason for Japan to spend $45 - $50 billion on, so called “Self-Defense” Forces?
I would give more credit to your logic if you are saying Korea is real treat to Japan because of those millions of arrogant “예비군 아저씨들”"민방위아저씨들”, than a symbol of the ROK naval vessel with your knowledge from ultra-Nippon pride blogs.
Um, that nation to the west of Japan, S. Korea seems to believe it’s permission is required before PM Koizumi can fart. So you just shot yourself in the foot real big-time with that one. The symbol distinkly shows weapons being fired at Japan, where as the ’symbol’ certain people take to mean Japan is a threat is a person praying for peace. Because of the cercimstances one can take a semi-aggressive meaning from that action, but when it comes to a picture of missles blowing a country out of water being approved by the national government, their is no other possible interpretation.
45-50 billion is more then justified when China spends nearly twice that much on “Special Death to the Japanese Race Forces”.
But all and all, I don’t see S. Korea a threat really. The people have suffered too much of a loss of life to let any one in office do anything as stupid as attacking another nation, the same can be said for Japan. My point being, if you’re going to consider Japan a threat, you need to realize that S. Korea is just as much if not more of one itself.
Comments closed (as soon as I can figure out how to do it).
One addition from MrChips:
I appreciate the post and would like to add
my thanks to the Korean Americans who signed up during WWII even
though their host country sometimes lumped them in with their
occupiers. It must have been tough considering the looks they got
from Americans and the possibility of facing Korean conscripts on the
other side. They are one group who deserve a special thanks from
American expats on this day (yesterday).