We, as Japanese, do not want to hold our tongues on “Japan’s Annexation of Korea”

We tend to think of others only from our own perspective; this applies not only to the Japan-South Korea relationship. However, in order to deepen mutual understanding, it is necessary to think of others also from the viewpoint of how other countries see us. Indeed, South Korea and North Korea are neighboring countries, and there has been a history of various exchanges and conflicts. Now that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has started to move toward realization, and safety and peace are being brought to the region, we need to know more about our neighboring countries properly in order to build a new relationship.

In South Korea, a high-tech industry has been developed in recent years and the country is becoming a more multicultural symbiotic society adapting to globalization. I think many Japanese also have such an image of South Korea. However, in the 1970s, a system of developmental dictatorship was established by the Park Chung-hee administration. Park Chung-hee was assassinated in 1979, and in the 1980s, Chun Doo-hwan from the military established a military government. There were also incidents such as the Gwangju Uprising where democratic movements by people were suppressed by military power. In 1987, Roh Tae-woo, who became President later on, declared democratization, introducing a direct presidential election system. For five years from the tumultuous late 1980s, I stayed in South Korea and witnessed democratization movements and citizen movements. I think there are two major conflicting political standpoints in South Korean civil society. One is the idea that communism is bad. In particular, those who actually confronted communism through the Korean War, which began in 1950, think communism is a frightening enemy which can kill even people in the same ethnic group. In Japanese terms, it can be called anti-communist liberalism. The other one is the idea to liberate people from dictatorships and military governments that dominate people. In Japan, it is referred to as people’s democracy, which is like the formula of Marxism. It was claimed that this standpoint would lead to reunification of the Korean Peninsula. I think these two conflicting standpoints were the basic structure in South Korean civil society. However, I think those who have fostered Korean democratization since the 1990s are people in the middle, thinking of these two standpoints as extreme ideas. In other words, they objected to dictatorship, but did not become communists, and thought they could build a democratic society suitable for them. In a region with the geopolitical condition of being a peninsular country at the end of the continent, unlike in Japan, an island country, they had a history of always having to be sensitive to rising power in the continent, and needed to clarify their position. They could not survive unless they won after deciding whether they supported the force or they confronted it by taking part in another force. Under such circumstances, people in the middle, thinking these two standpoints were extreme ideas, started citizen movements, opening the door to democratic society and paving the way to the development of South Korea today. This may not be a special event for Japanese people who have ambiguous culture and support middle positions, but it may be an epoch-making citizen movement for South Korea.

In the story of the recent Inter-Korean Summit Meeting and the U.S.-North Korea Summit Meeting held in sequence, in Japan, progress on the abduction issue as well as the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was expected, while in South Korea, the reunification of the Korean Peninsula was the hot topic. Looking at the tone of major Japanese and South Korean newspapers after the meetings, they had the same idea that a concrete decision will be made in the future, and did not request hasty results. It may be because they found that Chairman Kim Jong-un might possibly be a level-headed negotiating partner. Japan also needs to respond calmly.

Meanwhile, regarding issues relating to the reunification of the Korean Peninsula, we cannot see at all what is going to happen. Originally, in the late stages of the Pacific War, Soviet Armed Forces were stationed in the north of the Korean Peninsula, while the US Armed Forces were stationed in the south, which was the start of the division of the Peninsula. At the time of the Korean War, those who won the war were supposed to unify the Peninsula. After the armistice state in 1953, the idea of peaceful reunification arose. In the Inter-Korean Joint Declaration in 1972, peaceful reunification became a major policy agreed between the South and the North, the idea being that they can be reunited peacefully beyond the differences of thoughts, ideas, and institutions since they are in the same ethnic group. However, in South Korea, there was a change in the attitude toward reunification from the 1990s when the country increased its economic power. This is because people were starting to understand that various problems would be caused if the South absorbed the North in reunification as had been seen in Germany, where the West absorbed the East in reunification. For example, the premise of unification by absorption is that the regime of North Korea has collapsed, which means North Korea’s survival strategy has failed. If the South absorbs the North under such conditions, it would cost a lot of money. South Korea wonders whether reunification is worth the effort. On the other hand, in North Korea, there is a scenario of the North-South confederation announced in 1960, followed by the advanced “Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo” in 1980. This is an idea of creating a big framework (Confederal Republic) while maintaining the regimes of both the South and the North. In any case, the idea that they are in the same ethnic group or they should remove the 38th parallel north is a so-called conceptual argument, and now that it is considered a realistic issue, getting into the actual situation of making a concrete plan for reunification is difficult. North Korea has abundant resources, and South Korea sees North Korea as a promising market, which is an important bargaining chip for North Korea. Japan should also pay close attention to the negotiations and bargaining between North Korea, which wants to maintain its regime, and South Korea, which sees North Korea as a business opportunity.