뉴스레터

On December 14, 2014, the day when the ruling LDP of Japan led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a landslide victory in the Lower House election, the Korean, Chinese, and Japanese scholars who had led historical dialogue in East Asia for over a decade gathered together. Expressing concerns about the Abe administration's extreme shift to the right, we reviewed the past of historical dialogue in East Asia and exchanged our thoughts about the path ahead. Looking back on the past rounds of historical dialogue, we were left feeling emptier than ever, knowing that tensions in East Asia were rising every day. Besides, East Asia is still in the war over history, yet to overcome the past riddled with the 20th-century legacies of aggression, colonialism, and the Cold War.

U.S. Press Bashing the Whitewashing of History in Japan

Recently, the U.S. press, commenting on the war over history in East Asia, are voicing strong criticism toward the Japanese government. The New York Times said: "Right-wing political forces in Japan, encouraged by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, are waging a campaign of intimidation to deny the disgraceful chapter in World War II when the Japanese military forced thousands of women to serve in wartime brothels," labelling their acts as "whitewashing history." The Washington Post said: "Japan is determined to whitewash the country's use of sex slaves during the war (WWII). This sort of thing can be catching. Maybe others will forget why they consider Japan a friend." Lately, a group of U.S. historians came forward and issued a joint statement protesting against the Abe administration's attempt to alter the description of the sexual slavery issue in a U.S. publisher's history textbook. They said in the statement that no government should have the right to censor history while denying, for political purposes, the clearly established truth of the 'comfort women' program. The U.S. government also supported this statement on the grounds of academic freedom. Despite the U.S. involvement, it seems unlikely that the Japanese government will stop being provocative. Let us hope that the speculations that they might attempt to revise the Murayama Statement will turn out to be wrong.

Let us also wait and see China's reactions. No other country is more aggressive and stronger in responding to Japan's whitewashing of history. The Chinese government has submitted to the UNESCO an application to register records of Japan's wartime sex slaves on the Memory of the World Register. It has also gathered about 7,000 records of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre from 14 countries and begun publishing collections of records. On Human Rights Day, December 10, 2014, an open letter drafted by 3,361 survivors and family members of the victims of the Nanjing Massacre was sent to the U.N., condemning Japan's whitewashing of history.

War yearns for peace. The war over history is no exception. The fiercer the war over history caused by the attempt to conceal or distort the historical memory of the past, the more desperately needed historical dialogue becomes. Historical dialogue culminates in publishing a joint history book because this is about producing a common memory for reconciliation and peace in East Asia. Historical dialogue was first prompted by the controversy over the Japanese textbook distorting history in 2001, and it has been productive since, publishing as many as ten common history books. Personally, consistently participating in the historical dialogue among the three East Asian nations over the past ten years or so, sometimes arguing over the memory of history and sometimes embracing one another, has been an experience in making friends with other East Asian citizens.

I look back and realize how much our historical dialogue has been like the process by which people meet and become friends. At first, we were in a good mood, excited about our first meeting and trying to understand the others' perceptions of history. Our meetings were conducted in our three languages instead of English, so they took twice longer than typical international conferences. But we rose to the challenge, encouraged by the sense of achievement coming from learning and realizing something. The result, History That Opens the Future, published in 2005, was the first common history book in East Asia written in a tripartite collaboration. Given that this was the first round of historical dialogue, we tried not to be overly ambitious. Instead, we focused on understanding the histories of the other countries as we wrote the modern and contemporary history of our own.

Our historical dialogue continued and moved on to the next round. A more in-depth dialogue was attempted this time. Plans were made to write another common history book for which a given country would be responsible for writing each topic, and the other two countries complementing it by providing reference materials and comments. In the second round of dialogue, there were frequent, fierce debates due to differences in our perceptions of history, often to the point where the dialogue threatened to collapse. But the seven difficult years of dialogue and our friendship cemented in the process yielded a fruit in 2012: A Modern and Contemporary History of East Asia Written in a Tripartite Collaboration.

Historical Dialogue Accepts Differences and Broadens the Common Ground

From my experience in historical dialogue among the three East Asian nations, I have learned how to lay stepping stones to peace. Historical dialogue has made me realize that differences in the perceptions of history are not easy to close. Of course, there is no such thing as a single, 'agreed' memory, not even within a single country. There is only such thing as a single memory 'forced' upon the people by state power in autocracies. Interestingly, our historical dialogue has demonstrated that despite differences in perception, there are no memories of history that are too entirely different from each other to have not even one percent to share. In other words, if our memories of history are compared, there will always be an overlap no matter its size. Finding it and broadening the area in our perceptions of history that can be shared is the beauty of historical dialogue. I have learned that peace can be established if we not just expose differences and acknowledge each other and but take one step forward and try to broaden the common ground where our heads and hearts can meet.

Countries around the world that have been in dispute with other countries are engaged in historical dialogue. In Europe, historical dialogue began in the early 20th century and has led to the publication of common history books by France and Germany and then by Germany and Poland. In East Asia, on the other hand, historical dialogue has been a challenging task. While historical challenge has yielded not inconsiderable results for its relatively short, 10-year history, the war over history in East Asia has become increasingly fierce. It may be difficult, but we scholars will tighten our shoe strings and put our heads together for a more in-depth dialogue. As we enter the year 2015 when each of the East Asian country will celebrate the '70th anniversary' of liberation, resistance or end of the war, depending on their perspective, we will start the next round of tripartite historical dialogue to publish the third common history textbook. It is said that even though changing the world may be an impossible dream, it can come true if people who make efforts toward it gather together. Believing this to be true, we will continue historical dialogue as a way of priming the pump of peace.