By Kang Seung-woo
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wreath-laying for Holocaust victims in Jerusalem was hypocritical at best and offensive at worst.
Abe has been trying to whitewash atrocities committed by Imperial Japan against Korea and China during the Second World War, visiting the Yasukuni Shrine to pay respects to Class A criminals housed there.
Japan fought as part of the Axis together with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy before being vanquished by the Allied Forces.
Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was a member of General Tojo’s wartime Cabinet and a Class A criminal himself.
Abe is stoking nationalistic sentiment in Japan by trying to deny the previous government’s official apology for sex slavery forced upon girls from its neighboring countries.
How could the same person pay respect to Jews killed by his grandfather’s ally, while denying the inexplicable suffering of young girls forced to serve soldiers at military brothels? Abe has not even bothered to visit a handful of survivors who are now dying of old age.
“Japan is determined to contribute even more proactively to world peace and stability,” Abe said after visiting the memorial during his regional tour. “Today, I have learned how merciless humans can be by singling out a group of people and making that group the object of discrimination and hatred.“
His visit and remarks draw a sharp contrast to him paying tribute at the Yasukuni Shrine that houses 14 Class A war criminals from World War II in December 2013.
“His visit to the memorial was meant to show that Japan regrets its past misdeeds in its own way, without mentioning its war crimes; Japan is still required to follow in Germany’s footsteps in dealing with its wartime past,” said Chin Chang-soo, a senior analyst on Korea-Japan relations at the Sejong Institute.
Kim Yeoul-soo, a professor of international political science at Sungshin Women’s University, described Abe as a “split personality.”
“It does not make sense how a head of state behaves as such,” Kim said.
In response to his visit, the foreign ministry on Tuesday urged Japan to heal the wounds of the past.
“Paying tribute to the holocaust memorial is significant,” said ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il.
“However, in order to show his sincerity to the international community, Abe should make efforts to heal the wounds and pains of the victims of Japan’s past aggression.”
Abe has steadily publicized Japan’s unwavering commitment to peace since the end of World War II.
During the memorial visit, he said, “In March, last year, I visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Today, I find myself fully determined. The Holocaust: never again.”
He added: “This year as we mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation of Auschwitz, I make a pledge that we should never let such tragedies be repeated.”
Prof. Jo Yang-hyeon of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy said, “Abe has made efforts to ease international concerns of the United States, Europe and influential Jewish people that he continues to pursue historical revisionism.”
“However, Abe did not mention Japan’s war time atrocities, which shows his intention to refuse comparisons between Japan’s imperialism and the Nazi Holocaust,” he added.
Abe declared his opposition to discrimination against a certain group of people, which is ironic given his government’s negligence over anti-Korea protests.
According to data from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, 349 anti-Korean protests took place near the Korean embassy and in the Tokyo area between 2011 and July of last year. In addition, 110 cases were reported from January to October in 2014.
In the wake of this uptick in protests, the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution last month calling for specific action against the rallies by right wing groups in Japan.
In addition, it also called on the Japanese government to take specific action to end the anti-Korean protests.
In May of last year, Abe said in an interview with a German newspaper that he would not take the same steps that Germany did in handling its wartime past.