Dept. of Physics, POSTECH
Shin. Jeongkyu
Shin. Jeongkyu
The National Assembly passed the bill for searching Japanophilism (The law's original title is 'the special law for searching the Japanophilistic actions and the Anti-race moves under the ruling of Japanese imperialism.') on last 2nd of March. Considering the history that there has not been a close examination of the pro-Japanese group after the liberation, such an action may mean that the law can be executed while those who were Japanophilistic during Japanese imperialism are alive. However, frankly speaking, passing the bill itself does not include the implication. The original bill that reflected the opinions of NGOs and historians had been slandered; it had been heavily modified by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee composed of the assembly members who had been involved in anti-race moves . The due inspection right and its range of application are greatly minimized , so there is criticism that the law may rather give allowances for them if the law remains as they fixed it. Why it matters is that, unlike the other nations that had been invaded by Japan in the past, pro-Japanese groups still have power in Korea.
It is unusual that the previous pro-Japanese groups still hold control over the current issues in Korea. In France, pro-Germany group had been perfectly punished after the Second World War , and the Chinese still deal with the pro-Japanese groups in hatred. These nations finished the liquidation of anti-race people. In Korea, although the pro-Japanese group had not been forgiven, they have become the major power after going through the transitional period through liberation, the Korean War, and 5.16 coup d'état. President of the third republic, Park Jeong-hee, was a representative of the pro-Japanese group. In the circumstance where the national leader was a pro-Japanese figure, the pro-Japanese group has hold the real governmental power and economic influence on finance, which they obtained through the Japanophilism. The pro-Japanese people became well-off people of every provinces, and their sons or daughters won the elections with the help of money. Such fact is not a problem of the past days: the problem is still prevalent.
Because of these people, the Republic of Korea had no integrated influence as the nation. According to the definition of the constitutional law, Korea is a democratic republic. 'Democratic' means that every person is subordinate to the governing power of a nation, and 'Republic' means that the nation has a right to assert its legitimacy to the other nations. Nevertheless, Korea today fulfills neither of such definitions. The pro-Japanese group has concocted the value system of people who should insist on 'Democratic' government by means of formal educations. In other words, it has given up chances to proclaim the genuine national identity.
First, the distorted history education has conducted the fabrication of the sense of values . History textbooks mention the period under the Japanese imperialism, and they contain various contents concerning the patriotic efforts for the independence by Koreans. However, sometimes the members of the pro-Japanese group are turned into the people who sacrificed for the independence movement in defiance of Japanese coercion. Their descendants enjoy the wealth and power given from their ancestors; they still hold power these days. On the contrary, the descendants of real patriots who died for the independence movement had a hard time because their ancestors neither left any fortune nor were authorized as heroes of independence movement. Without certain evidence, they were sometimes even regarded as communists. Therefore, it is ironic that those in the pro-Japanese groups are buried at the National Cemetery and those who devoted their lives to the independence movement are buried in the wilderness.
Secondly, the nation’s self-esteem has been relinquished since the third regime started. The Republic of Korea renounced the apology of Japan at a national level for dog cheap by ratifying the Basic treaty between Korea and Japan. Even now, the whole content of the treaty has not been disclosed to the public . The assembly member who ratified the treaty has just retreated from the upland of the tenth reelection finally. Many waiving approaches like this treaty have heavily affected the due judgment of the people. Korea, the only country that had been assorted as an official colony of Japan, forgave the pro-Japanese group in the easiest way. It once had been attacked from Japanese imperialism, yet has affirmed its governance in implicit ways by means of pro-Japanese group.
As mentioned above, the pro-Japanese group has taken the power of Korea and has used it for ruling over the nation. There has been many power shifts, yet they were made only between the members of pro-Japanese group. However, there have been some waves of change, rising on the power structure in Korea. The power shift had been tried by people. The movements for democratization such as the 4.19 revolution in 1960, the 5.18 Kwang-ju Democracy resistances in 1980, and the struggles in June in 1987 were unprecedented in Korean history. Nevertheless, such trials had not brought about appropriate results until now. The 4.19 revolution resulted in the power shift to the pre-Japanese group because of the following 5.16 coup d'état by the military authorities. The 5.18 Kwang-ju Democracy resistances were oppressed by the crucial governmental control of the fifth regime, covered with blood , and the military authorities, returning the power to the same political group in the end, abused the struggles in June. Thus, the pro-Japanese group could maintain their power without any leakage of power in modern Korean history.
In spite of such facts, the growth of civil consciousness has enforced the power shift naturally. Finally, an assembly member who had no relationship with the pro-Japanese groups was elected as the President. In addition, the money raised by the ordinary citizens refilled the slashed expense for revising the history books in virtue of the bill for the searching examinations of Japanophilism just in a week. Moreover, the party that made a public pledge to modifying the damaged bill for the searching examinations of Japanophilism has fortunately became the majority, and they appointed that modification would be one of the most important things to do after convening the 18th National Assembly . Like it or not, many members of the National assembly who had disagreed with the bill were defeated in the election. These facts state that a number of voters are for the elimination of the pro-Japanese group.
The liquidation of the pro-Japanese groups is in progress now. However, this is just a start. For the desirable historical liquidating operations, it needs systematic approaches toward the history of Korea under Japanese imperialism. The law for clearing off the anti-race movement will work as the starting of those adjustments. A person who was identified as a member of the pro-Japanese group should be classified as an anti-race figure and be recorded in the textbook as an example of traitors even though he/she made remarkable achievements or left splendid art works. This progress must be a huge mission because of its possible collateral effects. That is why it needs evident proof. Moreover, the investigation of the facts should start soon before the victims of Japan’s imperialism die.
"Each nation's destiny should be determined by the people themselves," it is the essence of the nation’s self-determination, advocated by T.W. Wilson. Every nation already knows the meaning of that sentence. However, the people of Korea have not had a government that actually represents their will. The majority of power holders still consist of the pro-Japanese group. They insist their vested rights and try to maintain the privilege in the days to come. What is worse, some people have recently filed lawsuits for returning the land ownership of their anti-race ancestors to them; they will do everything for keeping their power. REMEMBER: If a country is to become a true nation, it needs self-respect for the progress toward such change. How to make it done is up to its people, and Korea is now at the edge of power shift revolution.
References
1 http://www.pressian.com/scripts/section/article.asp?article_num=40040302175736&s_menu=정치
2 http://www.khan.co.kr/news/artview.html?artid=200402050828211&code=910402
3 http://www.transville.net/climb/climba25.html
4 ‘Koreans Have own Textbook Controversy,’ LA Times. 28 August 2003.
5 http://www.hani.co.kr/section-003100002/2004/02/003100002200402131915314.html
6 ‘The brief of modern Korean History – 1980s. 1st. Slaughter at Kwang-ju and Seoul Olympic ’, J.M.Kang, The people and history press, 2000.
7 ‘Major party started to modify the law about the searching the Japanophilistic actions and the Anti-race moves under the rule of Japanese imperialism’ Joongang ilbo, 19 April 2004.
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