Seoul, Tokyo at war over history

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Over the past decade, Japan has stepped up, both in quality and quantity, its territorial claim over the Dokdo islets in the East Sea. South Korea has responded accordingly.

Some historians have characterized the territorial dispute as a war over history between the two nations. A variety of factors, including Japan’s lesson from the diplomatic row with China over disputed waters near the East China Sea last year, could be behind Japan’s nationalistic campaign in history education, they speculate.

Since 2000, the number of Japanese textbooks for elementary, middle and high schools that describe the islets as part of their territory has increased.

So has the intensity. Textbooks and guideline materials for publishers included increasingly “bold and assertive claims” over the islets from a conservative historians’ view.

The guidelines for middle school textbooks released in July 2008 stated that “there are differences between Korea and Japan over the ownership of Dokdo.” Japan indirectly included its claim over the islets in the guidelines for high school textbooks released in December 2009.

Japan’s campaign to strengthen nationalistic tendencies in territorial claims have shown no signs of abating, even since the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took power in 2009.

In 2010, textbooks for elementary school students unmistakably describe Dokdo as Japanese territory.

There have been some positive signals in bilateral ties since the DPJ took office as it strove to bolster ties with neighboring nations including South Korea. The massive magnitude-9 earthquake that devastated Japan brought an unprecedented flow ofgoodwill through which Seoul’s Red Cross has collected 21.3 billion won ($19.1 million) since March 14.

But Seoul-Tokyo relations are put to the test when Japanese textbooks with their descriptions of Dokdo cause uproar among Koreans.

Chung Jae-jeong, president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, has said South Korea and Japan have been “at war over history” since 2000. He said the end of the Cold War probably prompted the two nations to step up territorial claims.

During theCold War, Chung said, history issues between countries were “sealed” as the U.S. and the former Soviet Union competed for hegemony. But in the post-Cold War era, countries began opting for nationalism.

Mason Richey, professor of politics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said nationalism is often awakened, intentionally or not, by either perceived external threats or a perceived internal decline of a country.

“One reaction, especially to the latter cause, could be for the country in question to attempt to recapture past success by educating younger generations in a way that asserts the country’s greatness,” Richey told The Korea Times.

“Bringing up territorial disputes in schoolbooks could also be a part of this effort.”

Senkaku effect

Some analysts have speculated that Japan’s motives come from alarm at the diplomatic row with China last year after a Chinese trawler clashed with two Japanese Coast Guard vessels near waters off the disputed Senkaku (or Diaoyu) islands in the East China Sea.

Sino-Japanese relations were put to the test as China demanded an apology and suspended the export of rare earth materials used for cell phones and other electronic devices.

Analysts say Japan learned a lesson from the incident, adding this probably had an effect on Japan’s strengthening its territorial claim over Dokdo.

But some Japan experts disagree. They say that the schedule for new textbooks for middle school students was set earlier than the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute.

China also has unresolved territorial disputes with Southeast Asian nations over the Spratly Islands as well as with Japan and India. Japan disagrees with Russia over the ownership of what it calls the Northern Territories. Malaysia and Indonesia have had recurring border disputes as well. This is the case with other Asian nations as well.

In a book entitled “China Rising,” David Kang, professor of the University of Southern California, observed that territorial disputes are “much more the result of a century of change and increasingly legalistic practices among states than they are evidence of simmering hostility.”

But other experts noted the role of culture in shaping bilateral ties among countries that have conflicting issues. In an interview with The Korea Times earlier, Ezra Vogel, professor emeritus of Harvard University, noted how the generation of Chinese who grew up in the 1980s were exposed to Japanese movies were ready to work with Japan, while those who were trained in the patriotic education campaign in the 1990s had very different attitudes toward Japan.

In a meeting with visiting Korean journalists in Beijing last week, Hu Zhengyue, China’s assistant foreign minister, spoke of the role of culture in linking two different cultures amid tensions over history.

Hu said Japanese cartoons and animation are very popular among Chinese children and this sometimes makes it difficult for teachers to teach their students in class.

“In history class, children, who watch Japanese animation, tend not to believe that Japan invaded other countries in the past because they like the characters of the animation which they think are cute and interesting,” he said.

Dokdo: 일본, 센카쿠 학습효과?

일본정부가 독도영유권을 강화한 중학교 교과서 검정발표를 한 것과 관련, 일본이 독도영유권을 강화하는 배경에 관심이 모아지고 있다.

전문가들은 이번 역사교과서가 기존에 발표된 교과서 학습지도요령에 예고된 것을 반영하는 것인 만큼 확대해석을 경계하나, 일부 전문가들은 소위 센카쿠 학습효과가 반영된 것 아니겠느냐는 견해를 피력했다.

지난해 남중국해에서 중국 어선과 일본 해경 순시선이 충돌한 사건이 중-일간 영토분쟁으로 비화되면서 중국이 희귀자원 수출을 중단하고, 일본의 사과를 촉구하면서 사태가 확대된 영토분쟁을 통해 일본이 영토문제에서 강경해 진 것 아니냐는 분석이다.

일부 전문가들은 국가간 영토분쟁이 역사교육에서 민족주의를 부추기는 결과로 이어진다고 지적한다. 일본의 독도 영유권 강화는 2000년 부터 계속 강화되었다.