Tokyos Lip Service

boy in blues SG

Tokyos Lip Service
Stop Provocations Recalling Atrocities of Imperial Military
12-19-2005 19:23

In the midst of the mounting strain in relations between Seoul and Tokyo, Sunday marked the 40th anniversary of establishing ties between the two neighboring countries. Despite high expectations, bilateral ties began to deteriorate from the start of the year because of a series of provocative actions such as japans claim to Tokdo (Dokdo), South Koreas eastern-most islets, and its distortion of historical facts concerning the atrocities that the imperial Japanese military committed in Korea, China and other Asian countries.

But the major impediment to the development of ties is Japans Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumis vow to continue his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine to pay tribute to the 2.5 million Japans war dead honored there. Koizumi has annually visited the shrine since he took office, flatly ignoring the outcry from Korea and China, which regard the shrine as symbolizing old Japan as dozens of Class A World War II criminals are also honored there. Koizumis pledge, supported by other Tokyo political leaders, aborted President Roh Moo-hyuns summit talks with him, scheduled for this month in Japan.

Against this backdrop, we are perplexed by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Asos call for building a future-oriented relationship between the two countries. In his statement on Sunday, he said, Japan seriously takes to heart the sentiments of the Korean people regarding the past and will sincerely deal with various issues originating from it from a humanitarian viewpoint. He said that Japans efforts would cement mutual understanding and trust for building future-oriented relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

There is nothing wrong in Asos hope to expand the relationship between the two countries in a more constructive way. But we cant suppress our feeling that he simply paid lip service on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties. Our distrust is by no means groundless as Aso angered not only Seoul but also Beijing last month with his claim that Korea and China are the only countries in the world complaining about the Yasukuni Shrine.

It is impossible to promote relations between Seoul and Tokyo until Japan stops provoking Korea. Most of all, Koizumi and other Japanese political leaders ought to put an end to their visits to the controversial shrine, visits criticized by the United States and the rest of the international community. Repentance is best expressed through actions not lip service.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200512/kt2005121919204954040.htm

boy in blues SG

Seoul cool to overture by minister in Tokyo

December 20, 2005 ¤Ñ Tokyo's pledge last weekend to "sincerely" address Korea's deep grudges stemming from its colonial era were met with some skepticism yesterday by Korea's foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon.

A Foreign Ministry official said yesterday that Mr. Ban had reiterated to his staff that for bilateral relations to improve, "their actions need to be in line with their words."

On Sunday, a Korean diplomat said the ministry would issue a statement reacting to Japan's, but Seoul has evidently decided on a more indirect response to the offer of an olive branch.

A Western diplomat in Seoul said he interpreted the sequence of events as an emphatic rejection of Tokyo's conciliatory tone. "Just the fact that there was no official statement from Seoul tells you that things are not in the best light," he said.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200512/19/200512192237374879900090409041.html

BillyBong SG

The main issue is the failure to admit wrongdoings during the sino-japanses occupation and atrocities committed in WWII.

Glossing over the war crimes of their ancestors in new education textbooks is also blatant attempts at cover up.

While i personally have no issue with war memorial visitations, it is extremely disappointing to see that the current japanese administration has, like previous governments, failed to own up to their past actions.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Action speaks louder than words.

Japan has been saying she wants to improve ties, but I feel that they are doing the opposite. No wonder it has been met with hostility and skeptism.

84mmrr SG

Well, since Japan is adamant to worship those war criminals for "their sacrifice in bringing peace to Japan", let join in the website to remember and glorify Gen Curtis E. LeMay who was responsible in the bombing of Tokyo with incendiary bombs.

These bombing and the atomic bombs definitely bring the end of WW2 and peace to the world.

http://www.rlwu.com/index.php?langtype=en&pageid=en_1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II

boy in blues SG

S Korea asks Japan to improve rights of ethnic Koreans
Wednesday, December 21, 2005 at 06:58 EST

SEOUL South Korea on Tuesday asked Japan to give ethnic Koreans living in the country the right to vote in local elections, Japanese officials said.

South Korea also asked Japan to make humanitarian considerations to the case of ethnic Koreans in the Utoro district in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, who are under threat of eviction, according to the officials. They were originally brought there as forced laborers by the Japanese government to work on building a military airport during the war.

http://www.crisscross.com/jp/news/359197

boy in blues SG

Korean WW2 forced laborers lose Japan court fight
December 14, 2005

TOKYO (Reuters) - Relatives of four deceased South Koreans who were forced laborers at a steel mill in northern Japan during World War Two failed on Wednesday to overturn a Japanese court decision refusing compensation for unpaid wages.

The result, in line with most Japanese rulings on war-related compensation claims, comes at a time when Japan's ties with South Korea and China have been chilled by disputes stemming from Japan's past aggression in Asia.

In Wednesday's case, Tokyo High Court rejected an appeal from a lower court in which the relatives demanded that the Japanese government be ordered to pay 20 million yen ($166,600) in compensation for each of the four, Kyodo news agency said.

"It is legitimate to reject the case as it is clear that the right to file claims has been nullified," Presiding Judge Hiromu Emi was quoted by Kyodo as saying.

A court official confirmed that the appeal had been rejected but declined to give further details.

The court upheld an October 2004 ruling that said property claims by South Koreans who were forced to work in wartime Japan had been nullified under a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between the two countries, Kyodo said.

It said the court heard that the four deceased South Koreans were forcibly brought to Japan and made to labor at an ironworks in the city of Kamaishi, about 400 km (250 miles) north of Tokyo, for Japan Iron & Steel Co. -- now known as Nippon Steel Corp. They died in an Allied naval bombardment in July 1945, it said.

Japan says the issue of wartime compensation claims with South Korea was settled in the 1965 treaty, which required Japan to pay $500 million in economic aid to South Korea.

UNPAID WAGES

The steel mill operator deposited unpaid wages at a Justice Ministry bureau in the northern city of Morioka in 1946, Kyodo said. But when relatives asked Japan to hand over the wages in 1997, the bureau refused, citing the 1965 treaty, it said.

Nippon Steel, however, reached an out-of-court settlement in 1997 to pay some 20 million yen in condolence money, the first such agreement over a Korean or Chinese forced labor lawsuit, Kyodo said.

Historians say thousands of Koreans worked for Japan's industrial machine during its 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

In a sign of how the issue resonates with South Koreans, Seoul has asked Tokyo for data on more than 100 firms suspected of using forced Korean labor during its colonial rule, including one run by the family of Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso.

The two sides have held discussions since May on the fate of the Korean forced laborers.

Japan's ties with South Korea and China have deteriorated since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took office in 2001 and began making annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, which honors war criminals along with Japan's 2.5 million war dead.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/12/14/korean_ww2_forced_laborers_lose_japan_court_fight/

boy in blues SG

Seoul seeks prewar conscription data of Aso company
11/30/2005

By H.ICHIKAWA and T.TAKATSUKI The Asahi Shimbun

SEOUL--South Korean officials Monday demanded data on at least 10,000 Koreans forced to work in a prewar mining company that was operated by the family of current Foreign Minister Taro Aso, sources said Tuesday.

The request, made during bilateral talks, concerns finding and repatriating the remains of Korean workers who died in Japan.

Monday's demand is seen as a sign of South Korea's frustration with the slow progress of investigations, the sources said.

Fukuoka-based Aso Kogyo was owned by the late Tagakichi Aso, a former Lower House member and father of Taro Aso, who was president of what became Aso Cement for six years during the 1970s.

Records from the former labor ministry and Fukuoka prefectural government show that at least 10,623 Koreans were brought to Japan by Aso Kogyo to work in its mines during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Many workers perished in the forced labor.

The message from Seoul seems clear: Taro Aso, whose family's company conscripted Korean laborers, is now head of the Foreign Ministry, which is guiding the discussions. But Japan's investigations into the issue are moving too slowly.

Sources said Japanese officials promised to bring a response to the next meeting, to be held in spring.

At the previous talks in September, Tokyo said it had found the remains of 868 people.

But Seoul asked for a deeper investigation as there likely are many more victims.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200511300127.html

boy in blues SG

Korean spreads word about compatriots' eviction woes
12/23/2005

By AKIRA NAKANO, The Asahi Shimbun

Among Koreans, Utoro is known as the "last village yet to be freed."

Indeed, of all the communities in Japan where Koreans were forcibly brought over as laborers before and during World War II, the residents of Utoro in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, may be some of the hardest done-by.

After years of neglect, the Utoro residents, originally brought over by Japan to work in mines and factories during the war, found themselves facing a fresh hardship--an eviction suit brought against them by the owner of the land.

The residents lost. That was five springs ago.

But Utoro, all but forgotten for six decades, is now back on the map, thanks to the efforts of South Korean Bae Jee Won.

Bae, 34, has launched the "International Solidarity to Protect Utoro," a support group based in South Korea. The umbrella organization brings together some 40 civic organizations in a pledge to support their Utoro compatriots.

Bae's goal, she said, was simple: "So that all Korean grandmas, who are now scared to death of being evicted, can spend their golden years in peace."

The organization's main task for now is to collect enough money so that the Utoro residents can buy back their land from the owner.

Bae herself was instrumental in soliciting donations for the cause, standing on street corners on weekends. The international solidarity effort had already managed to collect 430 million won (about 47 million yen) by late November.

As secretary-general, Bae is kept busy flying between Japan and South Korea. In October, she invited Utoro representatives to Seoul to meet with officials of the Korean government.

News of the plight of the Utoro residents living across the sea has touched the heartstrings of the Korean people.

There has been widespread media coverage there of what is called a "human rights issue concerning our fellow countrymen," and the "last village that has yet to be freed."

In Japan, too, the issue has garnered much attention, and some Diet members and government officials have visited Utoro.

Bae first came across the Utoro issue about a year ago, when she happened upon a plea from a Utoro resident in a newspaper.

She was surprised to realize that she knew nothing about the Utoro people, despite working for a nonprofit organization that supports overseas Koreans.

Early this year, Bae was walking down the icy streets in Utoro for the first time.

She came across an old woman who was still living in a rundown former camp for Korean laborers who were forced to build an airstrip there during the war.

Every time it rained, the old woman's "home" was flooded. For 40 years after the end of the war, the woman said, she had no running water.

Bae felt a stab in her heart.

"Part of the responsibility lies with South Korea," she said. "We've left our countrymen stranded out here for too long."

In her 20s Bae lived in Tokyo as a graduate student. She felt that her relationship with other Japanese her age was largely just about exchanging niceties, but never digging deep. The war issue was politely avoided by both parties. Whatever "friendship" that existed, she felt, was superficial.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200512230137.html