Rectifying Distorted History Should Begin at Home
``Collaborators’ families thrive for three generations, but independence fighters’ families decline for three generations,’’ said Koreans during the Japanese colonial days. From this popular sarcasm, one can imagine the harsh rule during the time when Japan occupied the Korean Peninsula, between 1909 and 1945. The problem is, this saying is true even these days, as shown by prosperous grandchildren of collaborators versus the down-and-out lives of the descendants of ``anti-Japan’’ fighters. Little has changed in almost a century.
It is therefore significant that a presidential committee has decided to seize assets gained by pro-Japanese traitors, for the first time. Although the confiscated amount of 3.6 billion won ($3.9 million) is less than 1 percent of the collaborators’ total land possession, it is meaningful that the government has taken the first step toward rectifying historical wrongs. It was all the more necessary to turn back recent reactionary trends in which some descendants of traitors even won suits to retrieve some lands in dispute.
Those who oppose the governmental measure say it is a belated political move that infringes on individuals’ rights. We think differently. There can be no statute of limitations in punishing traitors who sold their country to foreigners. Yes, the original traitors are dead, but the properties, acquired for betraying their fatherland, have been inherited to their offspring. In short, these assets are pilfered properties that should return to their original owner ? state. Dissenters should read the nation’s Constitution carefully.
This is little to do with reviving nationalism in this part of the world, either. It is something Korea should have done right after the liberation 62 years ago, so Seoul is just doing long-overdue homework. Yes, petty nationalism can hinder joint progress toward the future, but without a proper righting of past wrongs and mistakes, the future will be on shaky ground, as illustrated by Japan’s failure to truly repent past mistakes that is attracting criticism from all over the world.
There likely will be some stumbling blocks to the panel’s proceedings, such as a lack of related documents, a shortage of time and manpower, and the resistance of the collaborators’ descendants. What is important, however, is to set the historical record straight, rather than the amount of assets confiscated. Instead, the panel should set a fair, unequivocal criteria to prevent some technical problems from damaging the spirit of this project. Popular cooperation will be vital in this rectification of historical distortion.
``History punishes those learning no lessons from the past, by having them experience it again,’’ says a monument on Auschwitz. Some Japanese leaders’ remarks on comfort women and other controversial issues may be good for many Koreans, particularly the younger generations, who seem to have long forgotten even whether there was a Japanese occupation at all.