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Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa: "What we should not forget about relationship between our nation and your nation is a fact that there was a certain period in th

Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa: "What we should not forget about relationship between our nation and your nation is a fact that there was a certain period in the thousands of years of our company when we were the victimizer and you were the victim. I would like to once again express a heartfelt remorse and apology for the unbearable suffering and sorrow that you experienced during this period because of our nation's act." Recently the issue of the so-called 'wartime comfort women' is being brought up. I think that incidents like this are seriously heartbreaking, and I am truly sorry”. [0] Just one quote I grabbed from a long list of apologies listed on Wikipedia. Also, Japan has paid reparations, multiple times with Korea agreeing each time it settled the matter. “Under the agreement, Korea received $300 million from Japan, as full and final settlement for claims between states, claims between one state and the individuals of the other, and claims among the individuals of the states, including those specified in Article IV (a) of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty. Private companies were also considered individuals for the purposes of the agreement.” [1] There are certainly nationalists in Japan who didn’t want to apologize or pay reparations, but most of the population does recognize it and feel remorse, and the government has also officially apologized and paid. At this point, there’s nothing Japan can do since stoking hatred of Japan is a political golden goose in Korea and no amount of apologies or reparations will ever be enough until Korean sentiment shifts and it doesn’t score so many political points at home. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements... [1] https://thediplomat.com/2020/10/the-japan-korea-dispute-over-the-1965-agreement/ https://thediplomat.com/2020/10/the-japan-korea-dispute-over...

AYBABTME 5y ago
I agree that it's a lot more nuanced than my comment made it out to be. However, I've observed that criticism of Japan has increased more dramatically in recent time, and (not particularly nationalistic) people who used to have a positive outlook toward Japan have often changed their position to a more critical one. I think it's not unprovoked, given that PMs continue to visit Yasukuni Shrine and there seems to be a resurgence in nationalistic sentiment in Japan, which finds its echo in Korea. On Korea's Supreme Court judgement, I can only assume that they did their homework with regard to the constitutionality of their decision. I wouldn't dare assuming that they were malign in intention. If they were, that'd be sad. I do think that both parties would greatly benefit from getting over with it, but I'm a slightly biased external observer in all this, so YMMV.

AYBABTME 5y ago

I agree that it's a lot more nuanced than my comment made it out to be. However, I've observed that criticism of Japan has increased more dramatically in recent time, and (not particularly nationalistic) people who used to have a positive outlook toward Japan have often changed their position to a more critical one. I think it's not unprovoked, given that PMs continue to visit Yasukuni Shrine and there seems to be a resurgence in nationalistic sentiment in Japan, which finds its echo in Korea. On Korea's Supreme Court judgement, I can only assume that they did their homework with regard to the constitutionality of their decision. I wouldn't dare assuming that they were malign in intention. If they were, that'd be sad. I do think that both parties would greatly benefit from getting over with it, but I'm a slightly biased external observer in all this, so YMMV.