뉴스레터

International Conference on "Northeast Asian Peace Belt"

The international conference on "Northeast Asian Peace Belt" was held under the theme of "Japanese Memories of War in Modern East Asia" at Kagoshima, Kushu, Japan from July 24 through 26.

As professor ISHIKAWA of Kurume University pointed out on the first day of the conference, Kushu is closely related with the war waged by Japan in East Asia. Nagoya, Saga Prefecture became a stronghold for TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi's invasion of Joseon in the pre-modern era, and many potters who were forcibly pulled from Joseon settled here. Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture was a base to dispatch troops for Japan's invasion of the continent and Southeast Asia in the modern times while the southern parts of Kushu provided an air base for Kamikaje commandos in the final days of Asia-Pacific War. On the other hand, the US forces used air bases in Itatsuke, Ashiya and Tsuiki during the Korean War. For this reason, many historic relics and memorials related with wars were constructed and remain in Kushu. The conference's theme was to examine the current situation and problems of these war relics and to figure out how to utilize them in building up a "peace belt" in Northeast Asia.

The event consisted of presentations and discussions conducted on July 24 ~ 25. Among them, a lot of attention was drawn to professor KIMIZUKA (Tokyo Gakugei University)'s proposal to compile the results from future symposiums and publish a "guide book on war records, heritages and relics in Northeast Asia." It is no surprise that the envisioned Northeast Asian Peace Belt's ultimate goal is "peace education" that can be inherited generation to generation. But it seems no easy task to select among so many heritages, explain them, identify relations among the heritages and clarify pending issues. Whether the project can succeed or fail will depend on how to strengthen partnership among current participants, produce leadership and push forward with joint operation.

A proposal for peace education that can be inherited generation to generation

In this regard, it is regrettable that the conference ended without sufficient discussions about many pending issues raised during the event. For instance, the presentation "war education in China" given by professor SON Gazi (孫科志, 復旦大學) explored the legitimacy of China's resistance from a patriotic, nationalistic perspective and argued that inheritance of such historical tradition is vital to achieve peace. Recently in Korea, the possibility of progressive patriotism is under discussion. There is much controversy over whether resistant patriotism and nationalism can guarantee universality and have present value. If the focus in separation and independence movements arising in peripheral parts of China, the cross-strait relations, inter-Korean relations, unification and other peace related issues goes beyond the legitimacy of past wars and stretches to current pending issues, should discussions be expanded? Or they should be confined to past wars like the Pacific War and the Korean War?

Another matter that haunted me throughout the conference was how bereaved families or colleagues' efforts to remember and commemorate the dead by comforting their souls can contribute to achieving peace. A case in point is TAK Kyung-hyun introduced in professor DO Jin-soon's paper. Like Kuromi FUKUDA who took the helm in constructing a memorial tower for TAK Kyung-hyun, a Kamikaje commando, if the living's wish to comfort the souls of the dead becomes a public matter, such desire comes within the network of international political or social relations. On the other hand, the bereaved families and relatives try to justify the deaths of the fallen people or at least argue that their mourning acts have pure intentions. When such grass-root perception is linked with national or collective mourning acts like the Yasukuni Shrine, the living people may take responsibility to be sensitive to their mourning acts' political implications.

At this point, I grew interested in "mantounagasi," a lantern event to comfort the souls of atomic bomb victims held in Nagasaki, introduced by professor NISHIMURA (Kagoshima University) at the conference. Those who started the lantern event are said to feel that the souls of the dead lingering across the bombed areas urged them to do something and they continue to hold the event out of a moral sense of responsibility up to now. The memorial service for unidentified victims who have nothing to do with the mourners may have universality in terms of the targeted people. Then, what effect does this event have on the current political and social relations?

Various cases were introduced but discussions about pending issues were distracted For instance, if the incident that caused the deaths of the unidentified victims was not an inevitable disaster but a product of human acts, generalization of the dead as a third person is enough to take responsibility for their deaths? Verifying the deaths' historical meaning is a precondition for such generalization, and at this point, should we take the responsibility or moral obligation for the deaths? Should we separate the cause of unidentified deaths mourned at the lantern event from Masaharu OKA's attitude toward the unidentified victims who said, "A nameless Japanese will apology for the unknown Koreans killed by the atomic bomb"? When the conference ended, I thought that the memorial service can begin contributing to peace by recognizing the historical meaning of deaths and its political impact.

I would like to point out some regrettable parts of the event.

For one thing, papers were presented at four sessions: exploration and preservation of war heritages; plan for peace and historical perception; war memory and commemoration; and war heritages and monuments in Kagoshima, Kushu. However, I didn't find such classification very clear. A variety of cases from China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan were presented as well. It was great to learn diverse cases, but on the other hand, discussions got distracted and controversy didn't get narrowed down during the discussion. If the event is held in another region each year, I think that this year's event should have concentrated on discussions about war heritages and monuments in Kagoshima, Kushu.

To add one more thing, I want to call for boosting participation of young researchers and students from the four countries in a bid to enhance awareness of the issues that will be discussed at the conference and expand the discussions. I am sure that current discussions including field work will contribute to providing good education and promote active exchanges among students and young researchers.