This essay argues that political interests and the Japan–Korea Parliamentary League have long concealed key historical facts behind bilateral disputes.
From the 1965 claims settlement to compensation history, it explores how political convenience and “business interests” shaped narratives surrounding wartime labor and historical issues.

January 18, 2019
Why then do influential lawmakers in Japan and South Korea hide such historical truths while speaking only in the kind of platitudes represented by Mr. Ishiba?
They do not allow Koreans to open the “Pandora’s box” of historical truth.
Thus Koreans do not know the truth of history.
Chapters I published on December 20, 2018 under the title “They Do Not Allow Koreans to Open the Pandora’s Box of Historical Truth,” and another titled “The Problem Is That Koreans Do Not Know These Historical Truths—The Comfort Women Issue Is the Same,” both ranked within Ameba’s top 22 searches.
Since they are the same chapter under different titles, combined they rank in the top three.
Kadota Ryusho is one of the foremost journalists of our time.
It is well known that he exposed how the Asahi Shimbun altered and fabricated the Yoshida report from Fukushima Daiichi for anti-nuclear activism.
Together with the fabricated reporting on comfort women, this became the decisive blow that forced the Asahi president to resign.
The following is from Kadota’s current column in the monthly magazine Hanada, titled “On the Ground.”
It is an essay that will open the eyes of anyone who, like me, has wondered what the Japan–Korea Parliamentary League actually is.
It brilliantly reveals truths about journalism that can never be understood by reading Asahi or watching NHK.
Emphasis in the text except for headings is mine.
Japan–Korea relations and the platitudes of Shigeru Ishiba and others.
With the so-called “wartime labor ruling,” the patience of long-suffering Japanese has finally snapped regarding South Korea’s unreasonable and irrational treatment of Japan.
This is rather welcome for the future of Japan–Korea relations.
South Korea may think Japanese will continue to tolerate its excesses.
But that is no longer possible.
Japanese are clearly expressing “no” to the endless escalation of South Korea’s demands.
Opinion polls make this clear.
The will to “create distance” from South Korea is spreading among Japanese.
In that sense, the wartime labor issue is a “good thing.”
However, we must also understand the obstacle to this realization—the very root of the problem.
That is the Liberal Democratic Party.
I believe the main responsibility for the current miserable state of Japan–Korea relations lies with the LDP.
More specifically, the Japan–Korea Parliamentary League (Chairman Fukushiro Nukaga).
Why the LDP, when members from both ruling and opposition parties participate?
The secret lies in a speech Mr. Ishiba gave at Waseda University on November 30.
According to reports, he said: “Even if it was legal, Korea was an independent country that was annexed, and names were changed for those from the Korean Peninsula. How much we recognize that history matters.”
Meanwhile, Kenji Kawamura, secretary-general of the Japan–Korea Parliamentary League, stated on a BS Fuji debate program:
“If reactions of public opinion stir things up on both sides, it becomes difficult for both. Returning to the 1998 Japan–Korea Partnership Declaration and facing the past while moving forward is our role.”
In other words, even now they are trying to calm public anger and wait for a return to the old situation.
Why?
The secret lies in their “Korean interests.”
It is not easy for Japanese companies to operate in an anti-Japan country like South Korea.
Government approval may be required, or regulations must be navigated.
At such times, companies must rely on influential members of the Japan–Korea Parliamentary League.
These politicians, when petitioned, immediately speak to their counterparts—the powerful members of the Korea–Japan Parliamentary League.
Korean lawmakers then contact the government or local authorities and carry out arrangements.
Without using such routes, Japanese companies cannot conduct economic activities in South Korea.
The reverse is also true.
LDP politicians act for Korean companies, and this partnership has been constant.
Influential lawmakers have enjoyed tangible and intangible benefits from these companies.
To protect this sphere of vested interests, they have consistently followed a policy of avoiding trouble and have placed a lid on the “historical truth” between the two nations.
They do not allow Koreans to open the Pandora’s box of historical truth.
Thus Koreans do not know the truth of history.
They may know that the 1965 agreement waived mutual claims, but they do not know that when Japan insisted on individual compensation for Koreans, the Korean government itself refused, saying it would receive a lump sum and handle compensation itself.
Japan then provided economic cooperation exceeding twice South Korea’s national budget at the time, and from 1975 the Korean government did in fact provide compensation to former laborers (first compensation).
In 2005, the Roh Moo-hyun administration also concluded that it was impossible to demand compensation from Japan and provided second compensation of up to 20 million won per person.
The problem is that Koreans do not know these historical truths.
The comfort women issue is the same.
While unfortunate women known as comfort women existed, they were not forcibly taken by Japanese authorities or the military.
They responded to recruitment promising high pay under various circumstances.
The women’s volunteer corps, meanwhile, were mobilized laborers in wartime factories, and the kind of comfort women represented by statues simply did not exist.
Why then do influential lawmakers in Japan and South Korea hide such historical truths and speak only in platitudes?
For the sake of their own interests, they stage a false friendship that in fact widens the distance between the two countries.
What we need now is to identify politicians who bring disadvantage to the people.
The wartime labor issue teaches us this.
People of Japan, monitor those LDP lawmakers who have continued to be enemies of true friendship.