My (Korean) wife was questioned at length by her fellow students at her German university about her feelings regarding the the Comfort Women Issue and the Japanese refusal to apologise. She said she didn’t give a shit - and thus caused complete and utter consternation. This shows how successful the Koreans and their apologists have been in presenting themselves to the European public as the perennial underdogs of history.

As has become perfectly obvious for everyone who has read my comments, here and elsewhere in the K-Blogosphere, I am quite critical of the ROK and of certain aspects of Korean culture.

But what happens if I voice criticism of this sort in Germany, Belgium, France etc. ? I am regularly met with the following objection:

“How can you dare criticising the Koreans, the perennial victims of history - they have suffered sooooooo much at the hands of the evil Japanese invaders and have never even received a sincere apology.”

As if the Koreans were Holocaust survivors or something of the sort, and thus exempted from all criticism of whatever kind…

So, dear Japanese, please apologise and pay adequate compensation, so that the Korean side will in future be prevented from exploiting the issue further. We will then be able to lay the matter to rest and concentrate on the real issues, i.e. the shortcomings of Korean politics and society. And there are plenty of them…

And it is really a pity that such a marvellous country seems to be unable to face up to her sordid past…

Really?

http://www.awm.gov.au/alliesin...../women.asp
http://www.iht.com/articles/1993/02/10/edhi.php

He has got a point, after all. The Moroccans are persistently lambasting the Spanish of kicking them out of a country they had themselves taken by force…

I’m going to Seoul in a few days, thank god….

are you thinking of Léopold Sédar Senghor ?

I’ve met him once during my time in France in the 1980s.

do not get me wrong - I really do not mean to attack you, I know you are a person with very moderate views.

Nevertheless, it is hard for me to agree with some of your points.

“First,even when the japanese government decides to “applogize”, many Japanese will see that these came out because of international pressure.”

That may well be true - few people or entities are ever willing to apologise without being pressured. So what ? When I was a boy my (adoptive) parents regularly forced me to apologise if I had done something wrong (such as stealing a small amount of money from my father’s wallet). While I did not LIKE apologising at that time I understand that my father was right in demanding an apology. The important thing is that when an apology is tendered, it has got to be accepted - and then the air should be clear again.

You have got a point in so far that the acceptance of the apology by the Chinese and the Koreans is not guaranteed. But that is their own problem - the public opinion in Europe would change sides if that so happened.

“If you have to apologize, then you must understand spontanously why you have to.”

Well, I think that should be obvious even to the most nationalistic Japanese (you are not among this group as I know). In any event, I cannot imagine that there a many Germans in their sound mind left who believe that Germany had no reason to apologise for not only ONE but TWO world wars, and for the Holocaust in addition. Moreover, apologies have been tendered to Tanzania and Namibia for wrongdoings during the pre-WWI colonial period.

“Do the French have appologized and compensated what they have done in Algeria 20 years after the defeat of the “Japanese Empire”?”

I do not think that is comparable - after all the French had been the lawful authority in Algeria since 1830 (!). And the Algerian war of independance started with vicious attacks on French settlers who had been in the area for generations.

“I really don’t think that “admonitions” from the other former imperial nations are moraly convincing.”

Well, sometimes it is a definite advantage to be provided with the chance of profiting from the experience of others…