Newsletter

The Northeast Asian History Foundation and the Association of Korean-Japanese National Studies co-hosted an international conference on "International Wars and Peace Systems in Modern and Contemporary East Asia" at the NAHF's Grand Conference Hall on November 14, 2014.

Oftentimes, war is at the root of conflict between countries. From the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries, a series of wars swept across many countries in the East Asian region, leaving them with conflicts and confrontations that they are still struggling to deal with today. Meanwhile, there has been a proposal in East Asia to create an 'East Asian Community' for peace building within the region, but little progress has been made because a sufficiently strong base of trust hasn't been built yet.

About ten scholars from Korea and Japan participated in this international conference for keynote speeches, presentations, and discussions on Part 1 'Revisiting International Wars in Modern and Contemporary East Asia' and Part 2 'East Asian War History and Building a Peace System.

The Move to Verify the Kono Statement Represents Exclusive Nationalism

This conference was focused on highlighting international wars in modern and contemporary East Asia as the roots of historical conflict in Northeast Asia, and exploring the direction of historical reconciliation and peace building in Northeast Asia. Furthermore, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan aimed to have a prospect for the 'East Asian Peace Community' as a system of transnational cooperation to overcome oppression, poverty, and discrimination.

First, Professor Emeritus Yutaka Yoshida (吉田裕) at Hitotsubashi University gave a keynote lecture on 'A Study on Japan's Nationalism and Military History,' presenting a prospect for building a peace community. He pointed out that the recent fad among the rightists of Japan to 'bash the Asahi Shimbun' and make a move to 'verify the Kono Statement' represented exclusive nationalism within Japan, as did their fierce attacks on the 'comfort women' issue. And he stressed the need to study the part of military history about the Japanese army's war crimes and find ways to overcome the views of history fixated on a single country's history.

Session 1 revisited the international wars that had broken out in modern and contemporary East Asia. Research Fellow Choi Deok-kyoo at the Northeast Asian History Foundation explained that interpreting history based on post-Eurocentrism and post-colonialism could be a way to overcome the trend of historical discourses about the Russo-Japanese War where the matter of Korea had been ignored.

Professor Kim Jong-sik at Ajou University gave a presentation on 'World War I and the Labor Policies of Japan and Korea and Their Response' in which he analyzed how the proposal for post-war settlement regarding labor issues submitted by the participants in WWI had affected Japan, which, despite its location far away from the battlefields of the European war, had joined the Allies and gained the status as a winner, and Korea, which had become a colony of Japan.

Studying Plans for Regional Cooperation in Northeast Asia

Session 2 was focused on reviewing plans for building a peace system. Professor Atsushi Koketsu (纐纈厚) at Yamaguchi University explained the historical background of the Cold War System and the Yalta System in East Asia, and said it should be remembered that to be liberated from these two systems was to be liberated from not only visible violence but also invisible violence (e.g. oppression, poverty, discrimination). He stressed that we have entered an age where Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan would envision building the East Asian Peace Community as a system of cooperation across borders.

Research Fellow Doh See-hwan at the Northeast Asian History Foundation gave a review of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the Treaty of Portsmouth, and the Treaty of Versailles, the treaties concluded in the wake of the Donghak Peasant Revolution and the Sino-Japanese War, the plunder of Dokdo and the Russo-Japanese War, and World War I, respectively, in terms of their true nature in the system of international law, and how these treaties had affected the Korean Peninsula and how they related to the peace system of Northeast Asia. With this review, he proved that the 'peace' treaties of East Asia had actually bolstered the system of aggression. And this is the reason, he said, why these treaties should be reexamined.

Professor Kim Tae-gi at Honam University divided East Asian war history into 'the period of service relations based on Sino-centric thinking,' 'the period of modern imperialism', and 'the period of the Cold War system,' and described the characteristics of each of the periods. He also reviewed the moves to build an East Asian peace community following the end of the Cold War with focus on Snio-American relations, and presented his opinions about the challenges ahead for establishing an East Asian peace system.

This conference was a serious quest to find out if and how it would be possible to eliminate the seeds of conflict sown by war and establish a permanent peace system. It also served as an opportunity to realize the utmost importance of establishing mutual understanding and common perceptions about modern and contemporary history riddled with conflicts and confrontations.