[A READER`S VIEW]Japan must make amends

The disputes over the Dokdo Islets and the naming of the Sea of Japan must be settled diplomatically by Korea and Japan to remove the dark shadow that hangs over the two countries and prevents them from forging long lasting ties.

When a country is subjugated by another (as Korea was by Japan from 1910-1945) its culture is more than undermined, it is wiped out. This is achieved by promoting the farcical notion that the subjugator`s culture is superior. They don`t impose it with flowers but rather with cruelty. They stamp out the language, persecute the opposition, and confiscate the land. They take pride in the cultural unraveling of the subjugated people. They have their own code of honor: Resist and we`ll bury you, cooperate and we`ll allow you the status of the living dead. They divide up the spoils of the occupation. This is the collective behavior and ruthless practice of colonizers.

As part of the cultural unraveling, their aim is to undermine by degree the core values of the subjugated-the things with which they identify deeply and emotionally. They know what cripples and they use the supreme power of suppression to achieve their goals.

The East Sea is on the east side of the Korean Peninsula; wherein lies its historical significance to the Korean people. In 1929, the Japanese named the sea, the Sea of Japan. In 1905, while preparing to annex Korea, the Japanese secretly claimed the Dokdo Islets, which are located in the East Sea, and incorporated them into imperial Japan. The Korean people could do nothing about these changes, at the time. But they understood the ramifications. The sea had been named the Sea of Japan because the East Sea had lost its significance now that the Korean people all used Japanese names and Korea was a Japanese colony.

Many people say that Japan "got a free ride" during the signing of the 1952 San Francisco Peace Treaty in which it renounced all claims to Korea and its islands large and small, but nevertheless held onto some of the spoils of occupation. Still others say that "Japan has a double standard: apologizing for its atrocious behavior while defending its right to Dokdo and the naming of the Sea of Japan."

But there is no such thing as a free ride. As Goethe said, "Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image." Japan is a country that still reflects the image of a colonizer because it never completely settles the score. It never disentangles itself from its calibrated image.

The Korean people, once so annihilated under Japanese colonization, are finally holding Japan to account. In the new climate, an apology isn`t enough. Goethe said too, "Study the past, if you would divine the future." Japan is hiding behind its past and is still intruding on Korea`s cultural and sovereign domain by its unwillingness to make amends.

In a diplomatic gesture, by dropping its claim to the Dokdo Islets and the Sea of Japan for the more neutral name, East Sea, Japan would help lift a century`s dark shadow and restore Korea`s full sovereign rights. As Confucius said, "Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage."





Susan Oak is a professor at Ewha Womans University. - Ed.