뉴스레터

New Year ceremony in 2022

NAHF held the New Year ceremony on January 3, 2022. President Lee Young-ho said he hopes to overcome the historical conflicts and confrontations in Northeast Asia and to be a year of collecting methods and wisdom for solving problems. Secretary General Chang Won-sam cited the word 'One must live the way one thoughts or end up thinking the way one has lived.' He emphasized the subjective attitude and sincerity.

In this ceremony, the new director and team leader were appointed according to the establishment of a new department, and a commendation was given to employees with merit. Lee Gye-shin, Cho Hyun-jin, Yoo Hye-won, Jung Eun-jung and Kwon Lee-hyun received the commendation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education.

The Present State of the 「Northeast Asian History Report」

The distortion of history in China and Japan, which has been worse since last year, is affecting our daily life. In this regard, NAHF began to diagnose and analyze the phenomenon and cause of historical conflict in Northeast Asia on historical context. And to share the results with academia, media, and civil society, 「Northeast Asian History Report」 was published. Through this, we will make it an opportunity to understand the issues related to the history and territory of Northeast Asia and to gather wisdom to cope wisely. The 「Northeast Asian History Report」 was published twice a month and currently has a total of 8. This is available for download by anyone on NAHF's website. In the future, NAHF plans to take various ways to advance its original role.

『Japanese Diplomatic Documents of the Korea-Japan Talks : Detailed List Ⅰ~Ⅴ』

On October 28, 2018, the Supreme Court of Korea ruled that Japanese companies should be compensated for victims of forced mobilization of Koreans. The Japanese government responded that the 1965 Korea-Japan agreement resolved all the problems of compensation for victims of forced mobilization. Half a century has passed since the Korea-Japan Agreement was signed. However, the issue of victims of forced mobilization, the issue of the Japanese military 'comfort women', and the issue of personal claim remain a task to be liquidated in relation to Japanese colonial rule.

The treatment of the damage caused by Japanese colonial rule was comprehensively handled in the Korea-Japan talks and concluded with the Korea-Japan agreement. So why did the Korea-Japan Agreement become the most sensitive gunpowder in the relationship between Korea and Japan? In order to clarify the issues related to the past history of Korea and Japan, proper understanding and interpretation of the Korea-Japan talks and the Korea-Japan agreement should be premised.

The Japanese government has released documents related to the Korea-Japan talks six times since March 2007. Before that, they did not disclose the document because they were in negotiations with North Korea on normalization of diplomatic relations. However, the Korean government released related documents in 2005. Since then, a group has been formed in Japan, demanding full disclosure of the documents of the Korea-Japan talks. The group demanded the disclosure of the documents through the lawsuit, and the Japanese government released the documents according to the court's ruling. They released a vast document in a short time. So the topic of the talks and so on were mixed, and there was a limit to using the data.

To solve these problems, NAHF systematically organized 1,916 diplomatic documents(about 60,000 copies) related to the Korea-Japan talks released by the Japanese government and published them as books. The Korea-Japan talks were officially held from October 20, 1951 to June 22, 1965. The topic of the talks varies from basic relations, claims, fishing, cultural assets, and so on. So it is not easy to find the necessary data in a vast document. A bird's-eye view and detailed map are needed to identify the entire 60,000 documents. This is the purpose of publishing the book.

The 14-year record of the Korea-Japan talks written by the Japanese Foreign Ministry contains Japan's claims and logic. This was written from the perspective of Japanese government officials. Therefore, it makes us uncomfortable by emphasizing Japan's legitimacy and performance. But it shows the process of Japan's decision on foreign policy, and lets us know even the incidental problems without filtering. But it shows the process of Japan's decision on foreign policy, and lets us know even the incidental problems without filtering. The North-Japan relations also have a task of liquidating past history. The current issue in the process of negotiations on normalization of diplomatic relations between North Korea and Japan is similar to that in the Korea-Japan talks. It is also necessary to review the documents of the Korea-Japan Agreement in order to predict negotiations between North Korea and Japan and prepare countermeasures against them.