'Being heard' matters for reconciliation

Professor Mari Fitzduff at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul on June 17

Oppressors, victims interpret war crimes differently

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Optimism for a Seoul-Tokyo summit is in the air after President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended receptions in their capitals last week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations.

However, a hurdle still exists. The wartime sex slavery issue stands in the way of Korea-Japan relations, and the two sides show no sign of reaching a consensus on it.

Experts have first encouraged the countries to put themselves in the other's shoes to see what went wrong over the issue, noting that the root cause of persisting sour ties is a deep-seated perception gap about who is responsible for the diplomatic stalemate.

Irish-born professor and activist Mari Fitzduff said that oppressors and those who are oppressed interpret differently the issues of mutual interest. She said it would be helpful if they make efforts to narrow their differences.

"We have done some very interesting experiments on empathy," she told The Korea Times. "Luckily enough, we have MRA machines that we can sort of put on people's brains and listen to them as they listen to each other.

"When Israelis listen to Palestinians talking about how hard they are about the actions of Israelis in relation to their community, their empathy level lights up. You could actually see this in the machines.

"But when Palestinians listen to Israelis talking about how hard they feel about indiscriminative bombing, their empathy levels do not light up. Their empathy levels lighten up when they hear and see that Israelis are actually listening to them."

Fitzduff, professor and director of the international Master of Arts program in coexistence and conflict at Brandeis University in the U.S., said the experiment indicated that being heard was more important to some groups than listening.

"At some level, while you are continuing to feel very much victims, it can be very difficult to actually hear what other people say," she said.

"People say sorry in very different ways. Culturally, people think they have said sorry and it's enough. But the other side hasn't heard it, perhaps because they are still feeling they are victims."

Her remarks indicated to some people that Korea and Japan maintaining their current positions, while showing no sign of additional efforts to reach a consensus, was unlikely to lead to a settlement.

During a recent seminar, Gong Ro-myung, a former foreign minister, pointed to "apology fatigue" as a reason why the Japanese government is reluctant to make an open apology for comfort women.

According to the veteran diplomat, the sentiment boils down to skepticism over how many apologies for the same issue will be sufficient to satisfy Korea.

He seems to be referring to the way former Japanese leaders have dealt with wartime crimes in public statements such as the Kono Statement and the Murayama Statement. In those documents, the leaders admitted Japan's oppressive acts on neighbors during World War II. In particular, the former document acknowledged the Japanese military's direct involvement in wartime sex slavery.

Koreans' perception of wartime sex slavery, however, is very different. Many believe Japan failed to take sincere measures after the war and consequently its apologies were not accepted.

Masao Okonogi, professor emeritus of Keio University, said the two sides know that without resolving the comfort women issue, no progress will be made in their relations.

The Japanese scholar called for a multilateral approach to resolve the decades-long issue.

He said Japan alone could not resolve it. "I think that Korea and Japan will need to work together to resolve it and, if necessary, non-governmental organizations and third countries will need to join such an effort," he said on June 17.

Okonogi said the issue could be resolved in accordance with international norms but stopped short of how this would work.