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PROJECT SYNDICATE THE WORLD'S OPINION
PAGE
AUG 28, 2014
YURIKO KOIKE,
Japan's former defense minister and national security
adviser, was Chairwoman of Japan's Liberal Democratic
Party's General Council and currently is a member of the
National Diet.
Ending East Asia’s History Wars
TOKYO – Georges Clemenceau, who, as France’s prime minister,
led his country to victory in World War I, famously said
that “war is too important to be left to the generals.”
Japan is now discovering that history is too important to be
left to newspaper editors.
In the 1990s, the newspaper Asahi Shimbun caused a firestorm
at home and in South Korea by publishing a series of
articles, based upon testimony by the former Japanese
soldier Seiji Yoshida, on “comfort women” – Koreans forced
to provide sexual services to the Japanese Imperial Army
during World War II. Asahi has now admitted that the
soldier’s confessions were unfounded, and has disavowed the
core supporting evidence for the articles.
That retraction appears to be causing as much embarrassment
– and diplomatic vitriol – in Japan and South Korea today as
the original series did. But, at a time when both countries
cannot afford to permit partisan or sloppy abuses of history
to roil their bilateral relations, Asahi’s careless work has
turned out to be more than abysmal journalism; it has
introduced a dangerous element into regional diplomacy.
Some say that Japan and South Korea should follow the
example set by France and Germany. Reconciling in the first
two decades following the Nazi Occupation of France, these
countries’ leaders understood that their security and
economic ties were far too important to their citizens’
wellbeing to allow the old hatreds to fester. They knew that
the unimaginable violence of WWII was a direct result of the
antagonisms that had festered since the Napoleonic Wars and
that were allowed to persist after 1918.
In Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, France and Germany
had two of the twentieth century’s greatest statesmen,
leaders who were able to discern the broad sweep of history
through the fog of quotidian politics. Their loyalty was not
only to the citizens who elected them, but also to the
generations of the past that had endured the consequences of
Franco-German enmity, and to generations yet to come, which
would benefit from reconciliation.
Of course, given that Japan and Korea have not fought a
series of wars against each other, their relationship is not
the same as that between Germany and France. But it is clear
that no one will benefit from a new round of heated
historical debate. To avoid this, political leaders like de
Gaulle and Adenauer are needed. Only when we can discuss the
past without endangering the future will the countries of
Northeast Asia be able to establish a truly durable
structure of peace.
As Admiral Dennis C. Blair, a former commander of the US
Pacific Fleet, stated at a recent conference, “The history
of Asia from the 1930s to about 1955 or so was not pretty in
any way….I don’t think any country can have a monopoly on
righteousness, or on guilt and shame” for that time. Blair
added that “the attempt to hold a ‘we were right’ and ‘you
were wrong’ sweepstakes is not going to help our children
and grandchildren understand what happened there.”
Japan and South Korea need to take responsibility for the
future, not obsess about the past. A recent Japanese
government white paper called South Korea the country “that
shares the closest relationship with Japan historically and
in areas such as economy and culture.” No doubt, many, if
not most, South Korean foreign-policy experts and
strategists share that sentiment. But it will take committed
leadership to transcend the history wars and tap the full
potential of Japanese-Korean cooperation, something that
both countries’ key ally, the United States, strongly
desires, as it seeks to draw China into a lasting and
peaceful Asian order.
For too long, intemperate historical debates – often driven
by biased newspaper accounts – have poisoned bilateral
relations. Now, as another war of words heats up, Japanese
and South Korean leaders need to step back, recognize where
the real interests of their people lie, both today and in
the future, and calmly begin to take the measures required
to ensure durable reconciliation.
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