Well evidently Korea didn't get the message when I suggested they shake hands and get back to business. Now, my last post may have been a bit harshly written, here's a very tactful and tastefully written account of the current trade war between Korea and Japan. Gregg A. Brazinsky is a teacher at George Washington U., he's written his thesis and a book on Korean history, so he's one of those non Koreans who knows more about Korea than Koreans. Though he speaks Chinese and Korean and looks like he may have Asian blood (with a name like Brazinsky it's gotta be only on the Mother's side) so he may NOT be, but his ability to face the truths that are hidden by both sides of the issues suggests to me that he has no skin (or blood) in the game. Hence, a more objective point of view.
I have shared this article in its entirety with a few of my students and they have all reacted very positively. They are astounded at the knowledge Gregg (and I) have about Korea. They genuinely don't think foreigners care enough to learn that much about a foreign country let alone Korea. One of my students ordered his book. It is really encouraging to see Koreans who can force themselves to look beyond the propaganda and politics and face reality. The general public in Korea is far too willing to get sucked in by anti-Japanese rhetoric spouted by politicians desperate to raise their approval ratings among others. "Japan sucks" is Korea's equivalent of "Support the troops" in the U.S. Or "Who wants Tim Hortons?" in Canada. Pretty much unquestioned support. But if Korea's not careful, this is going to bite them in the arse.
Recent events have illustrated that despite their position as the 11th largest economy in the world, Korea's dependence on Japan remains absolute. Japan withholds, in fact, they only have to THREATEN to withhold three chemicals necessary to the semi-conductor, tech, phone, tablet, high tech gizmo industry and within days the tech market destabilizes, the Korean currency loses 5% of its value, chip prices spike, and people panic about their phones being more expensive or harder to get. On one hand Korea should feel proud that the world is so dependent on THEM for their gadgets, but on the other hand, the clear message was that messing with Japan could jeopardize your economy. While you are still dependent upon them, you don't have that luxury.
So what was the Korea reaction? Did they start pursuing diversification even though Japan is close, convenient and comfortable? I haven't seen that yet. Did they say, "Sorry Japan, sorry. We didn't mean to embarrass you by forcing you to pay a pittance to some guys you subjected to slavery during WWII." Nope. Did they say, "Okay, we need to learn from the forefathers we imagine we are honouring by pissing Japan off and separate our history from our economy and work with the Japanese to make Korea economically prosperous?" Don't think so. The collective reaction of Koreans inexplicably seems to have been, "Poke the bear and it hurts our country? Well then let's poke the bear even MORE!"
The key line in the above article states, "For a more peaceful and prosperous future, countries must contend with history - no matter how ugly." See what I mean he's tactful? He doesn't even say KOREA needs to deal with their history, he says "countries." But it comes to bear. There are many countries that have had severe atrocities committed against them and are now doing business with the country that wronged them. Vietnam is doing business with the U.S. and Korea. 50% of Samsung phones are made there. Yet if you read about the atrocities committed during the Vietnam War by Koreans against Vietnamese, it is chillingly similar to what Koreans suffered from Japan. And much more recently!
So what needs to happen? How can Korea "deal with their history?" Just forgive and forget? That's not likely or even possible. Why not? What are the Koreans' feelings about what needs to happen? If you follow the story it's usually the same thing. In 1965 with Park Chung Hee and later with his daughter Park Geun Hye, the problem was that Korean individuals didn't get a voice. They didn't get any of the money either. Or for that matter a believable apology. But let's concentrate on the voice part because I think that is the key to solving this historical mess and getting these countries back to making money together instead of a trade war of attrition.
You see, I believe the people who suffered the atrocities DID have a voice. A fucking strong one! I think they sent an incredibly clear message. It just hasn't really been recognized by Koreans because they are so bent on punishing Japan by working against them. They are not honouring their forefathers in this way no matter how genuinely they believe they are. And this is not ME, a white guy, trying to tell Koreans what their forefathers wanted, this is me telling Koreans that it wasn't just the Japanese who weren't listening.
Read the article. If you don't get the message from the Korean victims of Japanese atrocities, read it again. It'll come to you. It should be pretty loud and clear. What did they do immediately after the war? Did they pursue vengeance on the hated Japanese? No. They actually worked with them. For 20 years! Because they didn't want to leave a poor country to their children. Then in 1965 when the Japanese agreed to normalization payments in exchange for Koreans foregoing any further claims for wartime or colonial atrocities, what did they do? They worked with the Japanese for ANOTHER 20 years. People who were raped, tortured, forced to adopt a foreign culture and forget their own, worked for nothing, put that all aside. They were silent for 40 years! But in that 40 years the Korean economic miracle occurred and by cooperating with the Japanese, Koreans had made a prosperous country and a bright future for their families. I can't imagine being tortured or raped or living in a forced labour camp, but I don't imagine it would be much less suffering (if any) going to work every day and smiling at the war criminals who have brought such suffering onto you and your peers... for 40 years!
There is no debating it, the economy of Korea was a LOT more important to the generation that suffered under the yoke of Japanese mistreatment than was the mistreatment. What they clearly wanted was to make a country that is peaceful and prosperous so such things wouldn't happen ever again. I don't think you need to be a(n) historian, or a Korean to pick that up. I read them.
The question is, do Koreans read them? It appears they don't. Let me just run down the list of actions that have been taken or promised recently by Koreans that could jeopardize and/or diminish the business relationship their forefathers have built for them. The government of Korea has removed Japan from the Korean equivalent of the Japanese white list, their "fast track list of trading partners." They have threatened to pull out of GSOMIA, a military intelligence sharing agreement with Japan. The agreement ends in November and Korea says they won't renew. 2 self-immolations. Seoul demanded a Japanese war ship take down the rising sun flag or be barred from port. Also they are demanding that flag not be displayed at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. There is even talk of Korea boycotting those Olympics. Seoul is planning to tighten travel and food restrictions for the Fukushima area for fear of radiation poisoning. Including Olympic events held there and Olympic foods from there. And boycotts of clothes, beer, cars, travel, even fuel. And it seems like almost daily there are new battles in the war.
I'll tell you what else happens daily, I wake up dreading to see what I saw in 1997 when I was here, the Korean won value cut in half. All THAT required was an IMF credit rating downgrade. If Japan cuts economic ties with Korea, I think it might have the same effect.
The people in Korea and Japan who need to kiss and make up have never committed atrocities against one another. Practically all the victims are dead. There are like 3 comfort women and 10 guys who did forced labour for Nippon Steel and Mistubishi I think. And they're not working any more. So it should be a lot easier for Koreans and Japanese to get along. Maybe in a decade or two Korea will be so rich they can eliminate their dependence on Japan. THEN they'll have fun lobbing "face" grenades like the above court hearing at the Japanese. I would enjoy seeing it then. I still think Japan has the chosen-by-God chip on their shoulder and they could stand to lose a little face from time to time to keep them honest. By the way, the court ruling for those 10 workers was about 100,000 dollars each for their slave labour. Mitsubishi and Nippon Steel were fine with it. A million bucks is absolutely nothing to them. But it was the government and Shinzo Abe who refused to pay. To save "face."
But Korea just can't afford to be doing stuff like this if it will sink their economy. So the best course of action right now is to stop with the historical bickering. Put it aside like their forefathers taught them to do. Work their asses off until they earn independence. THEN they won't be so vulnerable when they take nationalistic actions.
It's easy to say. Hard to do. But not nearly so hard as what Korean old-timers put themselves through to establish this, the 11th largest economy in the world. Koreans would do well to keep that in mind.
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