You Korean should learn the history!

――Korean President Park Geun-hye should impeach her father――

＜Interviewer : Hajime Marutani (journalist)＞
＜English translation : @EastAsiaNow＞

From Web Voice (May 25, 2015),

◆The terrorist who “blows himself up logically”

　――Mr. Kent Gilbert, you speak about not only the way of Japanese politics after the world war 2, but also various opinions about the Japan and Korea relations. It creates a big sensation recently in various quarters. What is the reason you are interested in such a problem?

　Kent Gilbert　I’ve been living in Japan for nearly 40 years, and I have found a lot of really splendid points in this country. However, I felt the Japanese memory of the war 70 years ago still binds up their action and way of thinking. On investigation I could know that the mind control called “the war guilt information program” (WGIP) that GHQ had put for Japanese through censorship for the occupation period after the war still did not come loose, and it was the ringleader that was a bad influence on various fields.

　Though Japan must wake up early, on the other hand, neighboring countries run self-indulgently taking advantage of the Japanese conditions. Though the Korean logic was in a mess and was childish in particular, Japan keeps on being attacked by Korea. I watched that and thought “Stop it Korean! You don’t have a right to say so”.

　――As for a mess, Mark Lippert United States ambassador to Korea who attended at a power breakfast held in Seoul on March 5, 2015 was suddenly slashed at by a man with a knife.

　Kent　 This case is completely terrorism and is a foreign very important person assassination attempt case. The criminal is Kim Gi-Jon who is a man of six criminal record criminals. He appeals for dominium of Takeshima by Korea and he objects to the military exercise of the U. S. Forces in South Korea. He is famous among the Korean security police authorities, because he threw a stone at a Japanese ambassador to Korea in the past. The local police were not able to prevent his invasion and the act of violence of such a marked man.

　――How did the American watch this case?

　Kent　 Americans around me were surprised and angry to hear this news and said “How was the security?” and finally they were too amazed, In other words, this is the “ability” of the Korean government.

　Actually, most of Americans watched this case and fully realized that Korea did not have even ability to maintain public peace as the proper nation. Americans thought, “Korea is not full-fledged yet”, “the U. S. Forces are necessary in South Korea after all”, contrary to the expectations of the suspect Kim. If the United States Armed Forces withdraw from South Korea which cannot stop even one dangerous person, Northern forces will invade South Korea on the next day, and the capital Seoul will fall within several hours.

　――The suspect Kim ever tried the surprise attack to the Japanese ambassador and injured a Japanese woman.

　Kent　In the case of the Japanese ambassador attack, 　the Korean anti-Japan media reported the terrorism of the suspect Kim was “heroic” all together. The judge did judgment with only a stay of execution for suspect Kim. He published a book about the case later and became the popular person. Not only the media and the public opinions, but also the judiciary is inexperienced in Korea. It is unbelievable to regard the person who attacked the very important person of other countries by violence as a hero in the developed countries such as Europe and America or Japan. Do you praise a serious illegal act to overturn the root of the constitutional state?

　One of the historical people Koreans respect most is An Jung-geun the terrorist who assassinated Hirobumi Ito at Harbin Station. There is no way even if people think that Korea is a country appreciating terrorists.

　――An Jung-geun is not the simple anti-Japanese movement campaigner the present Korean believes, isn’t he?

　Kent　Koreans do not understand An Jung-geun. Hirobumi Ito who An killed was extremely careful about Japan-Korea merger. Therefore the Japan-Korea merger accelerated at a stretch by having murdered Ito. Like the suspect Kim who attacked the U. S. ambassador to Korea, An led the result that he did not expect by his own simplistic action. These two terrorists have a similarity in the meaning “that blows himself up logically”. This is really “a suicide terrorism”.

　――In fact, An Jung-geun was supported by the Japanese prison guards and some Japanese nationalists in Japan.

　Kent　An Jung-geun had big respect for the Emperor Meiji. It is the greatest reason An attacked Hirobumi Ito that he thought “Ito is the large insurgent who performs politics against intention of His Majesty the Emperor”.

　In addition, An was supported by the Japanese prison guards and some Japanese nationalists, because he made the objection against colonial rule of the imperialism of the European and American Great Powers for the colored races. An’s thought that you must respect the Emperor and release Asia colonized by the European and American is the same as thought of “Hakkōichiu(universal brotherhood)” and “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” which Japan submitted after An.

　In other words, to regard An Jung-geun as a hero means just to worship the Japanese prewar politics thought that the present Koreans detest. As Koreans do not know the history, they blow themselves up logically again. Such a self-contradiction will occur by all means when they ignore the historic facts.

　It cannot be helped in a sense that Koreans cannot learn the history well. Because they “can not read kanji”. As a result that the Korea nationalism to deny all the achievements of the rule era by Japan swelled after the war, the Korea government abolished the use of the kanji and promoted use of only Hangul Alphabet. As a result, most Koreans are not able to understand kanji today.

　On the other hand, the Hangul Alphabet that Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty promulgated had been looked down upon for a long time as the letters that the women and children who were too illiterate to comprehend classical Chinese used. There are the times when the education and use of that were forbidden. It is completely reverse now.

　――Ironically, it was Japan to have spread the Hangul Alphabet made light of historically in the overall Korea in Japan colonial period, but the Hangul Alphabet is “the pride of the Korean” now.

　Kent　On the occasion of Japan-Korea merger, the Japanese Government was surprised at the excessive lower culture level of the general Korean. Therefore Japan built schools to improve the literacy rate of the Korean newly in each place (around 40 elementary schools in the early 20th century. → Japan increased more than 1,000 schools for approximately 40 years). In the elementary school, Japan diffused the Hangul Alphabet as well as Japanese and taught children mathematics and the history (including the history of Korea). The result of such an effort led to the national spread of today’s Hangul Alphabet.

　I started Japanese learning at 19 years old by Romaji first and learned hiragana, katakana and kanji sequentially. So I can certainly say that “Japanese sentences joined with kanji and hiragana (+ katakana)” are rational and you can read the sentences quickly, and the freedom of expression degree is high, besides. Therefore I think “the kanji Hangul Alphabet mixture sentences” are superior notation more surely than the one letter use alone. The difference will be reflected on reading speed and learning effects. I feel really sorry that they stopped it.

◆Samurai(Japan) and Yangban(Korea) are like night and day.

――Japanese who knew the power of the European and American Great Powers after the Meiji Restoration translated Europe and America-like politics and social concepts into Japanese (kanji). As a result, many “coined words” were born. As a result the coined words spread in China and Korea from Japan, they began to understand European and American civilization for the first time and succeeded in the modernization.

　Kent　Japanese kanji words for democracy (民主主義), freedom (自由), republic (共和制), traffic (交通), 　information (情報), economy (経済), bank (銀行), etc. are all Japanese invention. They have been used in China and Korea. If there was not a Japanese, there were not the kanji names of countries called “the People’s Republic of China (中華人民共和国)” and “the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (朝鮮民主主義人民共和国)”.

　Korean and Chinese who had been living in old-fashioned “Sinocentrism” comfortably for a long time can enjoy modern life today, because Japanese made efforts desperately. I want to tell them not to forget that.

　One of the Japanese achievements that I want to point out first of all is the fact that Japanese Government performed “the social position liberation” of the Korean people who suffered from severe rank difference and discrimination for several hundred years from the Joseon Dynasty times in the Korean Peninsula. I think that Japan did an excellent thing really definitely for Korean.

　――“The social position liberation” in the Korean Peninsula is hardly talked about in Japan. Ex-Korean was divided into “good people” that put the rank called Yangban in the top and “vulgar people” such as the slave, the priest, etc..

　Kent　Yangban hated the labor and boasted of “not having the thing which was heavier than chopsticks and a book”. They tormented people lower than themselves thoroughly and let people give them money and goods. They maintained the special privilege that they were not called into question in a crime for several hundred years. So they could bring people who did not listen to what they said in their home and could torture the people.

　On the other hand, the “vulgar people” which caught the inhuman treatment received intense discrimination of the house, the occupation and marriage, and they were performed human traffic of as a slave in a market. Some of them were not recognized as even a human being at all. Naturally they could not read letters.

　Of course Japan had the rank discrimination in the past, but the samurai who became the ruler after the medieval period was not only the soldier, but also was the able bureaucrat. Furthermore, in the Edo era the Japanese samurai who maintained “honest poverty” and “the pride” that were expressed by the words “A samurai, even when he has not eaten, uses a toothpick like a lord” received the expectation and the admiration of the common people. Therefore a program of Kabuki such as “Chushingura” was popular. Both belong to the same ruling class, but samurai was reverse to Korean yangban that was the grudge and the anathema of the common people. The origin of the samurai was the guard of the Imperial Court where the Emperor was in a top. In fact, all Japanese were loyal subjects to the Emperor. That have nothing to do with social position such as a general, a noble, the farmer and the age entirely. I think that is the reason why only Japan did not have the custom of slave trade that was natural in Korea, China, Europe and America.

　In Japan the lower grade samurai with proudhearted Bushido mind became the leader and realized the Westernization with the Emperor Meiji. It was unacceptable at all for such Japanese to understand Korean intense social position discrimination with yangban in a top and the bad long-established custom. It was obvious that the discrimination and the bad custom would become a hindrance to the maximum of the Korean Peninsula modernization. Therefore, the Japanese Government performed dramatic “social position liberation”.

　――It means that “the social position liberation” became the first step of the modernization in Korea.

　Kent　Japan that freed Korean from severe rank discrimination provided an opportunity of learning widely to educate youths. Thanks to Japanese measure, even children of low social position became able to go to school. I understand the fact that Korean Peninsula policy by Japan was not “the colonization” of the exploitation purpose but was “merger” to receive as a part of Japan. You do not give a slave education.

　It was an indubitable historic fact that “the social position liberation” of the Korean by the Japanese Government was an advanced policy equal to “Emancipation Proclamation” which President Lincoln performed in 1863, and this was the first step of the Korea modernization. Today’s Korean should have a great debt of gratitude in Japan only at this point, but I have not heard the words of the thanks for it.

◆The Korean suffers from “2nd year junior high school students” disease forever.

　――The Japanese Government poured much taxes collected from Japanese nation into the Korean Peninsula and introduced the modern infrastructure such as water and sewage, electricity, a road and the railroad there.

　Kent　There is a huge dam called Sup’ung Dam in North Korea even now, but it is the dam that Japanese Government built by spending the latest civil engineering technique and labor. The budget should have been vast for those days.

　――The budget was same as “Shinkansen plan” (bullet train plan) to link Shimonoseki to Tokyo that Japanese Government elaborated in those days.

　Kent　I know well how then Japan made efforts for the modernization of the Korean Peninsula.

　I remember Sup’ung Dam considerably has a big quantity of water and generation scale, too.

　――According to the documents, in those days of 1944 the dam had the ponding area of about half of Lake Biwa and the world’s largest scale in the power generation. The structure seemed to be strong like a fortress.

　Kent　In fact, during the Korean War, the U. S. forces fought against the dam. The U. S. forces performed a strategy to interrupt power supply for North Korea and one of the targets was this Sup’ung Dam in those days. The American air force bombed the dam many times and fired several large torpedoes finally, but still the dam did not collapse. It continues generation without still less changing in those days today without repairing afterwards, and it is one of the North Korea’s greatest power sources. The real ability of “Made in Japan” existed from those days.

　Korean government, media and many Koreans who do not check the true history are foulmouthed and curse Japan which made efforts for the development of the Korean Peninsula in this way. They are thankless and they suffer from “2nd year junior high school students” disease forever. I can understand “the bad evaluation for Korea” whispered in all the countries of the world. By the way, the Japanese evaluation by the foreigners is “honest”, “faithful”, “kind”, “diligent”, “cool”, “generous”, “they do not stir up troubles”, etc.. But Korean is really reverse to a Japanese.

　There are many foreigners of my acquaintance whose interests in Korea go in the distance, the more they know it. The peaceful manner that Japanese have the strong sense of justice without becoming emotional and run the country calmly impresses the world people favorably, unless it is felt jealous.

◆Sad art for survival of the peninsula nation

　――In Republic of Korea that was formed after the war, the false history is told because of too much emotion of “Japan is detestable”.

　Because Japanese Government added a claim of the Takeshima dominium in all social studies textbooks which was used for a junior high school on April 6 of this year, Korea Government resisted and protested the Japan side saying “the Japanese Government strengthened an unfair claim about Tok-do which was a territory peculiar to Korea and it distorted the historic fact”.

　Kent　It is better for Japanese Government to suggest to talk about the issue of textbook between two countries. “Please send all the textbook and the grounds documents of the Korean side. We give them too. Let’s discuss whether contents are proper”. “Unfortunately the Japan and Korea’s collaborative history investigation were made twice from 2002 to 2010 behind closed doors. Let’s make the investigation in public next time”.

　――Why has history recognition of Korea been warped like this?

　Kent　 After the war throughout, Korea has insisted on the own country as the member of the victorious nation and has repeated the self-effort to brainwash itself saying Korea was on the United nations side. However, until Pacific War end in 1945, the Korean Peninsula was “a territory of Japan”. This is a historic fact. The ancestors of the Korean now fought the united nations as “Japanese” and were defeated. They were not the Korean nations who were born after the war. Why can the country which did not exist be “the victorious nation?

　The matter of the wartime compensation is the same, too. Korea demands personal compensation for the Japanese Government about the issue of comfort women now, but originally Japan intended to do personal compensation.

　When Japan tried to conclude “Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea” in 1965, Japan suggested repaying it individually subject to the document presentation such as person of commandeering lists from the Korean side. Japan tried to examine the presentation documents of the Korean government individually and to pay what Japan should pay as compensation for the individuals, and Japan wanted to connect it with the future friendly relationship. The measure of the Japanese Government adapted to a law sincerely.

　However, the Korean government refused the Japanese suggestion. They insisted “as Korean Government will perform the compensation to individuals, we want Japanese Government to pay those compensation money to Korean Government in a lump”. The Japanese Government paid free 300 million dollars, charged 200 million dollars and private loan 300 million dollars under the name of “money of independent celebration” according to the demand of the partner.

　――The money which Japan paid was said to be more than twice the national budget of the then Korean government.

　Kent　 For a law theory Japan was able to request the infrastructure maintenance expense that Japan had cast in the past as the Netherlands performed it for Indonesia, but the then Japanese Government abandoned all right to claim for Korea. By the treaty Japan paid money more than twice the national budget of the then Korean government, and Japan donated the modern infrastructure that Japan made and maintained using vast money in the Korean Peninsula. That helped rapid development of Korea very much.

　That is not all. Japan continues paying large sum of money to the Korean government after “Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea”. Japan has continued providing trillions of Japanese yen for Korea every time as the financial support for the currency crisis that occurred in 1997 in Korea, the won remarkable rise in 2006 and the support to reduce the confusion after the Lehman shock in 2008. Japan also provided the stadium construction expense at the time of Japan-Korea World Cup in 2002.

　However, the money that Japan loaned to Korea so far has been returned only partly yet. And after the East Japan great earthquake disaster that Japanese really suffered from, the Korean supporters raised a two-pole banner that wrote “we celebrate Japanese major earthquake” in the game of the soccer.

　――There seemed to be really many voices to be pleased with the misfortune that fell on Japan in Korea.

　Kent　It’s the trimming policy to use blandishments to the strong. When the strong partners are plural, they use two or three blandishments. They chisel money by “extortion” and “racketeering” out of the other which they considered to be weak and pour abusive language and give terrible treatment. It is the mind of traditional “yangban”. It may be the sad art for survival of the peninsula nation who continued being made a fool of by the large country, but if the government and the nation act like yang-ban, they will not be able to get the good evaluation and respect in the global community. Korean with good sense should raise their voice.

◆Korean should learn the kanji again.

　――There seem to be many Westerners thinking that Japan did not apologize to Korea and China formally.

　Kent　 When I participated in a program of Sakurai Yoshiko who was the journalist the other day, she told, “Japan apologized about 60 times in total”. Then I said, “you do not need to apologize now”. Till when do you intend to keep company at the dishonest business that demands money whenever you apologize?

　It’s enough only to give the historic facts earnestly for the Korean. Japan already did the apology many times and was able to show the opinion of Japan by past apology enough. Whenever Japan apologize, Korean will say “apologize more” and “give more money”.

　――It is 70 after the war this year. The patient Japanese has begun to think, “It’s enough already, Koreans!”.

　Kent　Japanese are patient, but, in fact, they are stronger in the fight. If they get angry, they finish the fight by cutting in two with a single stroke of a sword at a stretch or they fight attacking each other simultaneously thoroughly. It’s the same as the chivalrous spirit movie where Takeshi Takakura is playing the leading part. Therefore you had better tell Korean “if Korean do not stop it, they will have a hurting experience to death.”

　Anyway, Koreans don’t have both right and qualification to blame Japanese past at all by picking up the thing named the barbaric act of the Japanese military and comfort women in the wartime. Not only they were “Japanese”, but also they managed the comfort women in those days, and it was Korean that sold off young daughters illegally. The Japanese Government cracked down on such a bad people.

　On the other hand, it is the Korean government that maintained a lot of comfort stations for the U. S. Forces in South Korea to earn foreign currency after Korean independence. It is Park Chung-hee who is the father of the existing President (Park Geun-hye) to have done it. At first President Park Geun-hye should impeach the act of her father before making complaints to Japan.

　Furthermore, the Korean military ran the comfort station for exclusive use of the Korean soldier in the Vietnam War and there were much barbarity to Vietnamese private citizens which you can not watch with your eyes opened. Though there was many Korean soldier who raped Vietnamese women abnormally, they do not try to face the facts directly.

　――The setting of the statues of comfort women is carried out in the United States, but this is mind of trimming policy of “telling” to the strong and teachers.

　Kent　The Korean living in the United States has become already out of control. The setting of the statues of comfort women is suspected of the violation of Civil Rights Act that forbade a human race, religion, and discrimination by the nationality of America. But most Americans can not distinguish Korean and Japanese and do not know the historical issues at all. Recognition of the issue of comfort women seems to be around 10%. I don’t think President Obama understands that properly. Though it is troublesome, Japan should explain it clearly to the United States.

　I said many times that “the Asahi Shimbun” which caused the issue of false report should place an advertisement of their mistakes 　in the “New York Times”, “Washington Post” and “Los Angeles Times” with the two facing pages. If “the Asahi Shimbun” place it in the Korean newspaper, it will be understood by the persons knowing it properly, though Korean newspaper wouldn’t publish that. In Korea, there should be the excellent persons who understand Japan and have respect to Japan. It’s good that Japan supports pro-Japanese Koreans having high such consciousness.

　――It is necessary for Japan to show the facts and argue well against the low level and emotional false charge.

　Kent　The most important is “You Korean should learn the history!” But, they cannot understand the historic facts by the modern documents written only with the Hangul Alphabet. In brief, I want Korean to start learning kanji again from the beginning. The strength of Korea certainly will go up by only that. By the way, it was about 20 years old that I began to learn kanji. I wants to tell Korean, “read the things which your ancestors wrote properly with your power”. Then the argument starts.

　Actually it is the best for Japan to leave Korea alone. Even if Japan loses Korea and diplomatic relations, in fact, Japan will be troubled with nothing. It is Korea that cannot live if it is forsaken by Japan. But Japan must go out with Korea really because it is the neighbor who cannot move house.

　On the other hand, I want Japanese to insist on their opinions logically and clearly without remaining silent. But the posture of the argument should be calm and gentlemanly to the last.

　――If you lack in noble character, the argument become the curse and that is disgusting.

　Kent　When I read comments of various Korean blogs, I know Korean is good at cursing a partner using terrible words. If a Japanese falls in the same level and curses such a Korean by mean words emotionally, most of the foreigners will think “both are to blame”.

　Particularly, when I watch some Hate speech or trend that lay the blame on “Korean residing in Japan” when you have a problem, I feel deplorable and sorry. I do not want you Japanese to get together at the negotiating table of such a low level of Korean, and it is not necessary for you to get there. While being careful at the point, I want you to show the historic facts and counterattack Korean very much against the false charge from Korea.

（“Voice” June, 2015）

◇Kent Sidney Gilbert
U.S. California lawyer, TV personality
Born May 25, 1952, in Utah, United States. He first visited Japan in 1971. He found a job in the international law office and took up a new post in Tokyo in 1980. While working in Japan as an attorney in 1983, he had a chance to perform as a stand-in for a foreign theatrical company, which led to other opportunities on Japanese television. His latest publication is “Japan the country of the phoenix”.（Nisshin Hodo） He sets up arguments by his official blog “Kent Gilbert’s ’Do you intend to know?’”


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