Published on August 27, 2019.
This is the continuation of a dialogue between Masayuki Takayama and Mutsuo Mabuchi published in the monthly magazine WiLL.
It discusses the fiction that South Korea stands on Japan’s security front line, the Japan-South Korea Claims Agreement and South Korea’s economy, special privileges for Koreans in Japan, the reporting of real names, the abolition of the Kono Statement, and the need to guard against de facto terrorism and protect Japan’s infrastructure after South Korea’s removal from Japan’s whitelist.

August 27, 2019.
Until now, a fiction had been created as if South Korea stood on the front line of Japan’s security.
South Korea used that as material to extort Japan.
It claimed that because South Korea was defending the 38th parallel, Japan should cooperate with South Korea.
The following is the continuation of the previous chapter.
A thousand years of resentment.
Takayama.
To begin with, it was during the Koizumi Cabinet in 2004 that South Korea was designated as a whitelist country, but the mass media should examine more closely how that came about.
Mabuchi.
Neither the United States nor the EU has designated South Korea as a whitelist country.
Naturally so.
South Korea was not a country that could be trusted in terms of security, and it cannot be trusted from now on either.
Until now, a fiction had been created as if South Korea stood on the front line of Japan’s security.
South Korea used that as material to extort Japan.
It claimed that because South Korea was defending the 38th parallel, Japan should cooperate with South Korea.
Takayama.
Even inside Japan, people were saying that if things continued this way, the defense line would descend as far as Tsushima.
But for a long time, Tsushima was the defense line, and it was not as if we had asked them to raise it to the 38th parallel.
Mabuchi.
Those among Japan’s conservatives who are pro-South Korea say that we should cooperate with South Korean conservatives, but that is meaningless.
South Korean conservatives have no power at all.
Moreover, they do not defend Japan’s claims.
Takayama.
Even South Korea’s economy exists on the basis of Japan’s cooperation.
The Miracle on the Han River was exactly that.
Mabuchi.
It was made possible precisely because there was money under the Japan-South Korea Claims Agreement: 300 million U.S. dollars in grants, 200 million U.S. dollars in loans, and a further 300 million U.S. dollars in private-sector loans.
Takayama.
In addition, there was also human support from Japan.
To begin with, Korea was a country like the Inca Empire, with nothing except earthenware.
Then, during the period of Japanese rule, its infrastructure and educational system were developed, and even railways, ports, and factories were built for it.
Moreover, it even received money.
With what kind of thinking can it bear a misplaced grudge against Japan and say, “This is a thousand years of resentment”?
Mabuchi.
I think this “thousand years of resentment” is directed at their own ancestors.
Their ancestors accepted Japanese rule.
Moreover, it was excellent rule.
South Korea has still not caught up with Japan’s level.
It imitates Japan and builds high-rise hotels and buildings, but they are so fragile that they are said to be in danger of collapse.
The dam in Laos also collapsed.
Are we such a miserable people?
That is what leads to a thousand years of resentment.
Takayama.
In the end, it goes back to ancient times.
Mabuchi.
I think that is fine.
As Mr. Trump says, each country should take responsibility for looking after its own affairs.
If it cannot take responsibility, then its regime should be changed.
North Korea and Iran are precisely such targets.
Make their real names public.
Takayama.
I get the impression that South Korea, unable to obtain American cooperation as it has until now, is running around in confusion.
Mabuchi.
At the Japan-U.S.-South Korea talks in Bangkok, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha had a sullen expression.
It was probably an expression of dissatisfaction that she had expected something from the United States, but the United States would not take South Korea’s side.
Takayama.
A photograph was also published in The Japan Times, and the composition was truly amusing: Kang Kyung-wha looking away, Pompeo standing between them, and calling over Taro Kono, who also had a stern expression.
Mabuchi.
On the other hand, President Moon visited a precision factory in a regional area and emphasized through the television screen that he would “turn crisis into opportunity and further develop South Korea’s economy and industry.”
He means to domestically produce one hundred items, but this is exactly like North Korea’s method.
President Moon’s true nature is completely clear.
Takayama.
Since they themselves are saying, “We will unite and do our best,” from our side the answer is, “Please, go right ahead.”
Japan’s opposition parties also have not made any complaints about this exclusion measure.
Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party, and Haku Shinkun are Koreans in Japan, so they should stand in the middle and say what should be said, yet they have ended up saying, “There are aspects that can be understood.”
Mabuchi.
The senior figures in the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’ Union, such as Fukushiro Nukaga and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, all had expressions as if they had bitten down on something bitter when dealing with the South Korean lawmakers who had come pushing in.
Takayama.
They cannot say anything.
If they say compliments or diplomatic courtesies, the public will attack them.
Japanese-American lawmakers such as U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, who lost one arm in the war, issued many comments that treated Japan properly.
Mabuchi.
Japanese-American lawmakers speak with America’s national interest first in mind.
However, Koreans, even after naturalization, do not work for Japan.
They think of their homeland first.
The fact that such people are members of the Diet is itself strange.
Therefore, I think election bulletins should clearly state the fact of naturalization.
This is precisely “the people’s right to know,” and the media, which routinely uses this right as a shield to justify its own arrogant and outrageous behavior, should take the lead in reporting the fact of naturalization.
What I would like Mr. Abe to do from now on is to sort out, one by one, special privileges for Koreans in Japan in the broad sense.
One of them is the public disclosure of “real names.”
Especially when a person has done something that may be charged as a crime, it should always be reported under the real name, not under a common-use Japanese name.
Because of common-use names, it actually becomes a disadvantage for Koreans in Japan.
When a brutal incident occurs, rumors and speculation spread, saying, “Was the perpetrator actually a Korean resident in Japan?”
Takayama.
The predictions are not often betrayed, though.
Mabuchi.
That is true in reality, but by making real names public, it will no longer be possible to pin all atrocious crimes on Koreans in Japan.
Takayama.
People would say, “Even though he is Japanese, he did such a thing?”
Mabuchi.
In the case of Diet members, the Public Offices Election Act should require the fact of naturalization to be properly written.
People who appear in the media also appear under Japanese names, so that area should also be changed.
Takayama.
The fortieth series of Mito Komon was directed by Kim Jong-su, a Korean resident in Japan.
In one episode, I was surprised when rampaging yakuza bowed before the hollyhock crest seal case.
Yakuza are outlaws to begin with.
Japanese people absolutely do not expect yakuza to bow their heads to the seal case.
Mabuchi.
There are also cases in which NHK’s Taiga dramas are shot by Korean-resident directors.
Because there are many depictions that disparage Japanese people, the ratings are not good either, but it is a serious problem.
Takayama.
In Hojo Tokimune from 2001, there is a scene in which Tokimune speaks Korean, but such a thing is impossible.
It was an era when Korea had been subjugated by the Mongols and there was not even a Korean language.
Mabuchi.
In that sense, we should clearly distinguish between Japanese people and Koreans in Japan.
And one more thing I would like the Abe Cabinet to do as soon as possible is to abolish the Kono Statement.
Now, thanks to Trump becoming president, the structure that had contained Japan until now is beginning to fray.
In addition, in South Korea, an eccentric person named Moon Jae-in is sitting in the president’s office and pushing “anti-Japanism” without caring how he looks.
Is this not a great chance to abolish it?
De facto terrorism.
Takayama.
However, I do have some concern.
South Korea has deep-rooted anti-Japanese organizations, and they may carry out terrorist attacks.
In other words, they are people like Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who attacked tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
If things remain as they are, South Korea will fall further and further into poverty.
Moon Jae-in also does not know where to go.
The North has no money, so there is no way to respond.
In that case, some kind of discontented element may attack Japan.
Mabuchi.
I agree.
For example, they might indiscriminately shoot at fishing boats approaching Takeshima.
Another possibility is that they may cause an incident on Tsushima.
They could fabricate a false story that South Korean tourists had been killed and then carry out a compensatory occupation.
Takayama.
Such fears can fully be considered.
Mabuchi.
On August 2, the Cabinet decided to remove South Korea from the whitelist, and since then, de facto terrorism has continued every day.
Factories catch fire, substations are hit by fires and power outages, trains stop, and so on.
It seems obvious that someone set those fires.
Even in the past, whenever Japan took some measure against South Korea, terrorism broke out.
Many Japanese people did not recognize it as “terrorism,” however.
Takayama.
Katsumi Murotani, who writes a serial column in Yukan Fuji, wrote that the public security authorities are showing a posture of “monitoring and containing specific information” in the August 8 issue.
Mabuchi.
The fact that such an article exists is itself welcome.
And ordinary people are also beginning to notice.
At one of my lectures, one participant told a strange story: “Suspicious fires continued near a factory close by, and when I went to the police and said that something seemed strange, they suddenly stopped.”
If each and every citizen awakens, such things can be prevented in many ways before they occur.
Takayama.
Shigeru Yoshida was a prime minister who incurred Koreans’ resentment by demanding that MacArthur repatriate Koreans in Japan and by treating Syngman Rhee with contempt.
In 2009, the main building of Yoshida’s residence in Oiso was destroyed by a suspicious fire.
It is said that the thousand years of resentment was involved.
Mabuchi.
In particular, the security of substations related to railways should be strengthened.
It is a crisis for Japan’s infrastructure.
The Cabinet order removing South Korea from the whitelist will come into force on August 28, and there is a high possibility that something will happen around that time.
Takayama.
Japan has been far too defenseless until now.
Mabuchi.
Looking around the world, Japan is probably the only country that is both defenseless and has good public order.
The number of foreigners migrating here will continue to increase, but we must also carefully prepare border-control measures.
Takayama.
We must make sure not to repeat the same mistakes we have made until now.