뉴스레터

It has been 100 years since Japan's forced annexation of Korea and 60 years since Korea's liberation from Japan. Nevertheless, there are still legacies of Japan's colonial rule that remain unresolved. This is a follow-piece to the essay in the last issue (Dec. 2010). It is a meditation on the lingering tasks Japan must resolve in regards to the two Koreas and Asia at large.

The issue of postwar reparations includes the reparations and compensations Japan must make to the victors of the Pacific War and its former colonies and occupied territories as well as contrition over and the elimination of the vestiges of colonial rule. The issues that must be resolved can be summarized as follows:

The issue of Korean B/C-class war criminals still awaits resolution a century after the issue surfaced with Japan's colonization of Korea a century ago. These Koreans had been mobilized as soldiers and support staff of the Japanese military against their will. They were clearly victims of Japanese colonial rule. Yet they were punished as "Japanese soldiers" after the Pacific War. The Japanese government, however, has not extended any compensation to them on the grounds that they are not Japanese nationals. Next is the issue of Japanese military "comfort women", Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese women who had been coerced into serving as sex slaves of the Japanese military. Although the Japanese government acknowledges the existence of military sexual slavery, it has been putting off the issuance of government-level compensation and apology. Another issue is the retention of wages and severance pay of mobilized Korean workers. After having carried out a discriminatory policy, classifying people as either "domestic (Japanese mainland)" or "foreign (colony/ occupied territory)" during the colonial era, Japan has refused compensation to Koreans and Taiwanese Chinese who were not naturalized as Japanese citizens after the Pacific War. Controversies and lawsuits have been continuing on this front. Moreover, Japan is still refusing suffrage to some 600,000 Koreans residents in Japan who have maintained their "Joseon" or "Korean" citizenship. There is also Dokdo, over which Japan continues to claim sovereignty, as well as Korean cultural properties that were taken to Japan during Japan's colonial occupation of Korea.

Side-effect of the United States' Far East policy during the Cold War

Korea hopes that a special law on postwar
reparations is passed by the Japanese Diet.
The photo is of the National Diet Building

Let alone Korea's national pride, which had been so thoroughly trampled on during Japan's colonial rule, the above issues are practical concerns that have yet to be addressed. How have things come to this? After Korea's liberation, the issue of Japan's compensation to South Korea, North Korea, China, and Taiwan had been pushed aside due to the Cold War. The most significant cause was the United States' Far East policy in the larger context of the Cold War. With the onset of the Korean War, Japan's strategic value in the Far East grew. The United States, which had wreaked havoc on Japan during the Pacific War, did an about-face and opted for Japan's revival. However, the cost of reconstructing Japan was exorbitant. The U.S. government could not expect U.S. taxpayers to take on the full burden.

Thus, the United States induced not only the Allied Powers but also China and Taiwan against seeking reparations from Japan while pressuring the Philippines and India to settle for economic cooperation in lieu of reparations. At the time, there was no country bold enough to refuse the United States' requests. Hence, Japan quickly became a major economic power thanks to the United States while postwar settlement issues with its former colonies and occupied territories remain unresolved to this very day. That is to say, Japan ended up benefitting from the United States' interests in the region with the onset of the Cold War, and thus, matters relating to postwar reparations have yet to be settled.

Key to postwar reparations is legislation and civil solidarity

So what should the next step be? First, the Japanese government should pass a special law on postwar reparations and tackle the issue in a more proactive manner. Special laws should be passed on compensation for Korean B/C-class war criminals, forcibly mobilized workers, and former "comfort women" in order to uncover historical facts, extend sincere apologies, and provide compensation.

Although Japan has become a major world power, it is not respected by Korea and other Asian neighbors. The issue of postwar reparations must be resolved at the government level in order for Japan to elevate its tarnished image. In this age of globalization, this is a must if Japan is to live alongside the many Asian nations on which it had inflicted damage.

Second, building solidarity among the civil societies of Asian nations is a means of bringing peace to Northeast Asia. Neither Japan nor the two Koreas is free from the influence of China and the United States. Active governmental support of NGO activities to forge intraregional solidarity can engender regional peace.

Since the 1990s, many Japanese NGOs
are calling for the Japanese government
to make postwar reparations.
The photo is a forum hosted by a Japanese
NGO for peace in Asia.

Japanese colonial rule, occupation by American and Soviet forces, and the Korean War have left the Korean peninsula divided into two states. As for South Korea, it was only after much bloodshed that we managed to topple a series of dictatorial regimes and democratize. Japan, in the meantime, experienced imperialism and war, bombing and air raids, defeat, Allied occupation, democracy bestowed by the United States, and democratization activities of civil society.

While Korean civil society was working toward democratization, Japanese civil society began calling for postwar reparations for Japan's colonial rule in the 1990s. There are now dozens of NGOs working on related causes, including providing support to former military support staff, assisting with the return of the remains of Korean soldiers and workers, opposing the proposal to amend Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, providing support to "comfort women", and providing legal assistance with lawsuits concerning force mobilization.

On the centennial of Japan's forced annexation of Korea, it still seems very challenging to get Korean and Japanese scholars, NGOs, and youth to work together. Nonetheless, such solidarity and cooperation will be a valuable first step toward realizing peace on the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia at large. Eradicating war and maintaining genuine peace is crucial for the very survival of the people on the Korean peninsula and the larger Northeast Asia.

※ For further details on the issue of postwar reparations, refer to Usumi Aiko [內海愛子]'s Asia and Japan in Terms of Postwar Reparations, which Professor Kim Gyeong-nam recently translated into Korean