뉴스레터

At the 9th Jeju Forum for Peace & Prosperity (May 28-30, 2014) held under the main theme of "Designing New Asia," the NAHF hosted an international conference on "Historical Reconciliation and Challenges for Establishing Peace in Northeast Asia" on Day 2 (May 29). This NAHF-hosted international conference on diplomacy and security was one of the sessions at Jeju Forum, arguably the best of its kind in Asia, that drew the most attention.

This international conference was designed to address the concern that historical conflicts among the three Northeast Asian countries (Korea, China, and Japan) over their past were seriously undermining peace and prosperity in the Northeast Asian region. Accordingly, the NAHF placed the focus of this conference on identifying the root cause of historical conflicts among the countries in the Northeast Asian region and exploring possible solutions for overcoming those conflicts. The NAHF also gave an overview of the challenges of achieving genuine historical reconciliation and establishing peace through mutual understanding and cooperation, in an attempt to present a forward-looking vision in the Northeast Asian region.

Of the sixty-four sessions listed in the Jeju Forum program booklet, the NAHF-hosted session, its proposal and presentation topics of the participating scholars were reported in a number of media sources prior to its opening. The media that covered the NAHF-hosted session highlighted the details of the session in the featured article: "Apology for Colonial Crimes Critical to Reconciliation in Asia." Below is a summary of the session, with focus on the main points made by the speakers.

"Apology for Colonial Crimes Critical to Reconciliation"

Professor Werner Pfennig, Director of the Institute of Korean Studies, said, "The European experience suggests that sustainable win-win cooperation will be difficult to achieve without reconciliation. For example, the reconciliation between Germany and France/Poland was also what had evolved and expanded from the proposals of the German elite." He suggested that the matter of achieving internal reconciliation, given its importance to Korea as a divided country, should be brought up for discussion with the North Korean elite. He also proposed that Korea, although sandwiched between powers, could serve as a cultural bridge, initiating efforts to reconcile with Japan and other neighboring countries.

Professor Nagahara Yoko, an authority in the research of responsibility for Asian and African colonies, said that "just as the issue of East Asian colonies should be approached from the perspective of comparative history, the damage done to 'comfort women' should be also examined from the perspective of world rather than regional history." She talked about the Caribbean countries demanding compensation for the victims of slavery, although dead now, from the European countries, as an example to make the point that seeking to clear up the past was a recent global trend. She said that Japanese scholars were recently investigating the Japanese military's killings of Donghak peasant troops and the Boxers, and stressed that attention should be directed at colonial rule rather than war.

Professor Sun Ge, a long-time advocate for peace in East Asia, stressed that "the practical function and historical implication of discussing peace in the Northeast Asian region is to recognize the shortage of resources as the cause of the territorial disputes surrounding the Asian countries today, and the need for joint studies on resources in order to keep peace in Asia." Additionally, he noted that the maintenance of Japan's pacifist Constitution depended on the solidarity of the East Asian people, and expected that establishing peace would be possible if and when the East Asian people eliminate discrimination and inequality from their everyday life and achieve the true cultural solidarity.

Professor Yoon Byungnam, President of Historical Society, speaking on the importance of the past in East Asia, said, "Modern history shows that East Asia established its identity while experiencing colonial rule." As for historical reconciliation among Korea, China, and Japan, he stressed that it would require not only patience but also various channels of exchange among the different classes of the three countries. In other words, instead of having high expectations for what could be done at government levels, we should first trust that small efforts at non-government levels could lead to big accomplishments.

General Education on World History Needed for Japan's Young Generation

In the discussion following the presentations, Professor Werner Pfennig proposed the revised euphemism "so-called comfort women," pointing out that the existing euphemism 'comfort women' was in itself disrespectful and insulting to the victims of the military sexual slavery by Japan. He also noted that territorial dispute was in its nature resource war, and criticized Japan's assertion of its effective control over the Senkakus while opposing Korea doing the same over Dokdo as a political rhetoric. Professor Sun Ge stressed that "regarding the model of effective solidarity for peace, to complete reconciliation was for civilians to internalize peace." Professor Nagahara Yoko said that "Namibia's demand (for compensation) had come about because no measures had been taken to clear up the colonial rule of Germany for bringing justice to the Nazi criminals and the Holocaust," and stressed that "a general education on world history should be provided for Japan's young generation because it was a result of nationalist education that they were not proud of their country's pacifist Constitution." Professor Yoon Byungnam said, "Although the outlook for the future of Northeast Asia is neither optimistic nor pessimistic, the political leaders of Korea and Japan should think about the situation where even Korea-Japan exchange student programs are affected when the relations between the two countries turn sour."

This international conference served as an invaluable opportunity to understand the current situation of the historical conflicts among Korea, China, and Japan in comparison with Europe's experience and history of decolonizatoin, and have an in-depth discussion about the desired approach to establishing peace through historical reconciliation among the three Northeast Asian countries and share the result. With the 70th anniversary of Korea's independence from Japan's colonial rule and the 50th anniversary of the Korea-Japan Agreement approaching in 2015, we should take the first step this year toward building a Northeast Asian peace community on the foundation of genuine historical reconciliation.