By Lee Eung-tae
Since President Lee Myung-bak visited the Dokdo islets and demanded a formal apology from Japan’s emperor for the nation’s wrongdoings against Koreans, including enforced sexual slavery during World War II, the diplomatic relationship between the two countries has been frozen.
Contrary to the sizzling weather, the cold wind blowing from the eastern country concerns most firms and people who have business relations with Japan. Needless to say, if this cold spell lingers, both sides will be negatively affected in many sectors.
As far as the domestic economy goes, most Koreans are feeling the pinch mostly caused by the ripple effect of a declining global economy. A recent typhoon blew away many people’s livelihood, devastating farms and aquafarms, leaving those affected in utter misery.
In this painful situation, the row between two neighboring countries is bound to accelerate the further deterioration of our economy. Most aggravating must be businesses that depend on Japanese tourists for a living. As expected, they don’t want to visit a country that blames their emperor or them for past wrongdoings.
A series of recent incidents motivated by extreme nationalism such as vandalism at the South Korean Consulate General in Hiroshima and threatening words of indiscriminate retaliation apparently reveal how antagonistic people in both nations are at the moment.
But I am not unpatriotic enough to say that the demand of an apology is diplomatically wrong. That is absolutely fair and just for our people and sovereignty.
Indeed, this demand will be never satisfactory from the standpoint of the victims of sex slavery, dead or alive. Imagining how humiliating and miserable their lives were in those days, any amount of compensation or apologies will not suffice.
But, sadly as for Japan, its misguided national dignity does not allow them to make a sincere apology to the sexually victimized. Rather, it is threatening us with cancelling a financial swap program. It even tries to encroach on the sovereignty of neighboring countries by raising ungrounded territorial claims.
Furthermore, Japan is moving to take the matter of Dokdo to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which our government dismisses as absurdity. But worrying is the fact that despite historical evidence, if the case is discussed by the ICJ, judges are not likely to rule in favor of us because of diplomatic sensitivity, which must be Japan’s cunning tactic.
All things considered, I cannot help asking whether it is a calculated motion to divert people’s attention by stirring nationalism and thereby instigating Japanese people to harbor unrealistic dreams just as they did 100 years ago. If that speculation should be true, it would be very dangerous.
As world communities are deeply intertwined with each other, it is impossible for one country to prosper without having relationships with their neighbors. This is especially true for nations like Korea and Japan, which count on exports for prosperity and cannot but depend on nearby countries for trade. In that sense, lingering this dispute will not do any good for either side.
As Korea enters the threshold of multiculturalism, many Japanese–Koreans are living here and vice versa, both of whom may be in conflicting minds.
In a nutshell, it is true that the government has a solemn obligation to protect the nation’s sovereignty but it should also bear in mind that it has a divine duty not to jeopardize livelihoods. Especially in the current economic situation where both neighboring countries are struggling, this unfriendly mood must be detrimental for the people.
The writer is an English teacher in Gimhae Girls' High School in south Gyeongsang Province. His email address is eungtae@gmail.com.