Tokyo must remember Asians’ sufferings during WWII
Korea-Japan relations have never been as good as now in the last quarter of a century.
Last Sunday, President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida paid tribute to Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima for the first time.
It was a brief ceremony that ended with a wreath and 10 seconds of silence. Seoul and Tokyo issued no official statements. However, the joint visit must have touched the hearts of Korean victims of the 1945 nuclear attack and consoled their souls.
Japan had neglected the monument for Korean victims. Initially, Tokyo refused to allow it to enter the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. It was not until 1999 that the cenotaph was moved inside. Former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, famous for his joint declaration with Kim Dae-jung, was the only Japanese leader to pay tribute to the memorial the same year. Korea hadn’t done much better, as Yoon was the first president to visit there.
The event was significant enough. However, the government cheapened its meaning with an overstretched comment, describing it as the “beginning of action to solve the past.” However, the claim is preposterous, considering that Japan still denies the coerciveness of conscripted workers. The presidential office later added that many of the 50,000 Koreans killed or wounded in Hiroshima were forced laborers who hadn’t chosen to be in the city.
Even if it was a first step in the right direction, this moment only clarified that the two countries have a long way to go before reaching their destination.
What Tokyo wanted from the resulting joint visit there by G7 leaders was to imprint its status as a victim. Under the banner of a nuclear-free world, Japan implied that it would no longer remain a victim, which endures nuclear threats from China, Russia and even North Korea by reemerging as a military power, if only in conventional terms, for now.
Rearmament has long been Japan’s goal, following its defeat in World War II. The late nationalistic leader Shinzo Abe accelerated the pace of this aim, and even Kishida, his dovish successor, shows no signs of deceleration. As things stand now, the world’s third-largest economy will also become the third-strongest military power in just a few years, by spending 3 percent of its GDP on a buildup of arms. Even Japan’s pacifist groups can no longer check the process in this new security environment. According to opinion polls, young Japanese people infused with “non-masochistic” historical views support it more strongly.
Japan’s neighbors, including its former colonies like Korea, can do little to slow, let alone block, proceedings. The only country that can do so is America. But Washington encourages Tokyo to step on the pedal in order to keep China and Russia in check and play its role in Asia.
Still, Seoul and other Asian governments can ill afford to watch, with arms crossed, the possible repeat of an unhappy history. For instance, their leaders must not say, “Who would say anything about Japan?” like President Yoon did earlier this year. For Tokyo, Pyongyang only provides a convenient pretext because its ambitions go further beyond.
All countries have the right to self-defense. However, as far as Korea is concerned, Japan must do two things beforehand. First, it must win the hearts of the Korean people by admitting its past wrongs and apologizing once and for all. Second, Tokyo should vow not to send its troops to this peninsula without Seoul’s consent under any circumstances.
According to surveys, about three-quarters of Koreans think seeking better ties with Japan is possible even before all historical matters are solved. But even a larger share of people believe that genuine bilateral cooperation is only possible by settling old scores. That explains why the government must take a two-track approach.
It is difficult to expect that from the incumbent one-way administration. We hope it will not make too many things irreversible for succeeding governments.
A leader’s determination cannot justify everything.
Source: Yonhap News Agency