뉴스레터

Editor's Note: Recently, the U.S. and other members of the international community are bashing Japan for its repeatedly expressed backward perception of history. On May 8, 2014, NAHF Education Team Manager Jeong Eunjung met with Dongsuk Kim, the Executive Director of Korean American Civic Empowerment (KACE) who was visiting the NAHF. Mr. Kim gave a vivid account of how the American people's perception of historical issues in dispute between Korea and Japan had changed from the passage of the 'comfort women' resolution by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007 to the erection of 'comfort women' monuments in places across the U.S., and what it was like today.

Q What has been the most memorable experience in your KACE career since 1996?

Dongsuk Kim The activities related to the 2007 U.S. House of Representatives 'comfort women' resolution come to mind. The original purpose of KACE is not to discuss the issues between Korea and Japan, such as 'comfort women' and the East Sea. KACE has been involved in voters movement to empower Koreans in American society, and its approach to the 'comfort woman' resolution was to encourage Korean Americans to vote. In other words, the U.S. House 'comfort women' resolution was a kind of strategy. However, the 'comfort women' issue is such a matter of concern to the international community that KACE's activities to encourage Korean Americans to vote have been forgotten, and KACE has been misunderstood as an organization dedicated to the anti-Japanese movement From my experience in the KACE activities, I've felt that a 'resolution' is no more than a piece of paper. Our continued interest in the 'comfort women' issue as much as in the Holocaust is what matters. We often compare Germany and Japan, and demand that Japan should make an apology to us the Koreans as did Germany to the Jews. But I think we should first compare the Jews and the Koreans in terms of the efforts they have made. We should understand how much the Jews had striven never to be victims agin until Germany made the apology. And the campaign to encourage people to vote as part of such efforts is one of KACE's key programs.

Q KACE is running the Northeast Asian History Internship Program for American college students, and I think it is an interesting program. Could you tell us more about it?

Dongsuk Kim The Northeast Asian History Internship, launched at the Kupferberg Holocaust Center in 2012, is a program designed to teach students in mainstream American society about the atrocities committed by Japan across the Northeast Asian region during the Japanese occupation period. The goal of running this program is to win universal support through human rights protection activities. The greatest accomplishment of this program is to have made the 'comfort women' issue known consistently and reasonably across the State of New York and drawn keen attention from the students. Despite the 12-hour time difference between Seoul and New York, we arrange a video call with the House of Sharing in Gyeonggi-do each semester so that the American students can have an opportunity to meet, although indirectly, with the victims. Last year, we organized a meeting that brought the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, the survivors of the gas chambers, to meet with the victims of the military sexual slavery by Japan. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together the victims of wars that had occurred around the globe, although at different times and places, and allow them to work together to resolve problems arising from war. The meeting of the two victims at the John F. Kennedy International Airport drew keen attention from the local press. This has further strengthened my conviction that if we are to resolve the historical issues that remain unresolved between Korean and Japan, getting the American civil society to do something about it will be more effective than dealing with Japan ourselves.

Q What do you think is the right approach to the 'comfort women' issue?

Dongsuk Kim It should be made clear that the 'comfort women' issue is not limited to Korea and Japan but a global human rights issue that should be treated with the same level as the Holocaust. Addressing the issues of Dokdo, the East Sea, and 'comfort women' collectively and demanding the international community for resolution is not feasible. Similarly, although the possibility of submitting the 'comfort women' resolution to the U.S. Senate has been discussed in many occasions since its passage by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007, I think it will be difficult to get it actually passed by the Senate. Turning the tide of Korea-Japan issues to our advantage in American society takes a lot of thinking and strategic action.

Q You argued that it was necessary to ensure that the fact that Dokdo is Korean territory serves the national interest of the U.S. What did you mean by that?

Dongsuk Kim Basically I think it is right to approach the Dokdo issue as an issue of historical truth. And the same goes for the East Sea naming issue. It is a fact that the decision on the so-called "Sea of Japan" reflected Japan's voice only and was made at an international organization meeting held at a time when Korea had been deprived of its sovereignty. And letting the world know the unfairness of this decision is the right thing to do. But the logic that the issue at hand concerns the interests of their nations is needed to get the political community and the American civil society moving. For example, when the U.S. Board on Geographic Names discussed the sovereignty and name of Dokdo in 2008, they decided, evidently conscious of Japan, that the current situation should remain as it was. It should be always remembered that while the Dokdo issue is of tremendous importance to us Koreas, it is just a minor issue to Americans.

When issues between Korea and Japan concerning territory or geographic names are brought up for debate in the international community, Korea is not in a favorable position. As a divided country, Korea gives top priority to national security. And Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is well aware of this situation of Korea. We need to consider options carefully to strategically decide what we should give up and what we can get. We should bring the 'comfort women' issue as a human rights issue, especially the issue of the human rights of women in war, to the international community for extensive discussion. As for the territorial issue, if we are to make its discussion to our advantage, I think that a number of issues facing the international community should be fully studied to formulate government-level strategies tailored to address each of the issues, and the government and civil society organizations should cooperate with each other to resolve them. It is also necessary to encourage the U.S., which is not a victim country, or any organization influential in the international community to voice their opinion to make the Japanese government feel pressure. To get American society voicing their opinion about this issue, we need to let them know what impact the historical issues between Korea and Japan are having on the national interest of the U.S.

Q Please tell us if you have anything you really want to say to the Korean society.

Dongsuk Kim In trying to reveal the truth about historical issues in Northeast Asia, I don't think it is desirable for Koreans to come to the U.S. to confront and dispute directly with Japan. Nor is it favorable to Korea. Korean Americans as American taxpayers and voters can influence and steer the mainstream American political community. Please sit and watch them do so slowly but surely.

Dongsuk Kim, Executive Director of KACE, in conversation with NAHF employees at a meeting held at the NAHF on May 8, 2014<

Q What are your plans for the future?

Dongsuk Kim My plan and goal can be summed up as the 8080 Campaign, which is about making 80 percent of Koreans living in the U.S. voters, and getting 80 percent of those voters to vote. This is a symbolic number. Korean American voters are a minority, but once it becomes known to American society that their turnout is high, then the Korean American community will gain power, and it will become possible to naturally draw the American political circle's attention to the agenda that the Korean American community desperately wants to see fulfilled. Our goal is not to train Korean politicians. It is to get mainstream American politicians working for Koreans.