Ninety-two years ago today, all of Korea rose up to protest against Japanese colonization and demand the nation’s independence.
Now, four out of 10 grade school students here have no idea why they have a day-off on March 1 every year. What this means is clear: Parents and teachers haven’t taught them the meaning of the March 1 Independence Movement Day. It is small surprise then barely one in every three homes put up the national flag on this historic day.
This is more than regrettable, thinking how the nationwide, non-violent uprising of 1919 showed the whole world the Korean people’s undaunted spirit for independence, and influenced similar movements in other colonized countries, including China and India.
Are leaders any better than these ordinary people? Unfortunately, the answer hardly seems positive if their handling of the territorial dispute with Japan over the Dokdo islets is any guide. Currently 13 bills for enhancing Korea’s historical claims over the volcanic outcroppings in the East Sea are gathering dust at the National Assembly, as lawmakers tend to forget this issue as soon as Japan stops being provocative.
It is against this backdrop that Rep. Park Sun-young, spokeswoman of the splinter Liberty Forward Party, has recently moved her permanent address to these rocky islets. The move of course smacks of a political calculation, but her remark still deserves some attention: ``Japan’s ceaseless claims to Dokdo should be dealt with sternly. It is regrettable that the Lee Myung-bak administration does not appear to be seriously aware of the problem.”
Pitiable indeed is the historical awareness of the Lee administration. It was two years ago that one of the top Presidential aides made controversial remarks to the effect of defending some pro-Japanese corroborators and colonial rule itself, which he said more or less contributed to Korea’s modernization.
President Lee, himself a self-professed pragmatist, has also emphasized that the future is more important than the past. True, but there can be no future for a nation that easily forgets the past, especially when its former colonizer has yet to genuinely admit its wrongdoing and make any real moves for making amends.
Nothing can be more ironic in this regard that South Korea’s moves to enhance military ties with Japan to keep North Korea in check. Considering Japan’s colonization of Korea 101 years ago is at the root of all modern tragedies the nation has undergone, including the national division, Seoul’s move is much like seeking the help of the original assailant to punish the injured party, or seeking to solve a problem with the aid of the one who caused it in the first case.
The Lee administration may be right to say changed situations require different approaches. If the officials remember the failure to solve Korea’s problems among Koreans themselves brought about by foreign intervention a century ago, they also must be able to judge which is more pressing now: dialogue with North Korea or seeking a military alliance with Japan?
If this administration is to adhere to policy based on inter-Korean confrontation with the help of its former colonizer, then it should at least refrain from using the word independence.