Repost! The Personal Assets That British People Owned in India Were Returned to Their Individual Owners…
This chapter was published on July 25, 2018.
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
◆ Originally, There Was Neither an Obligation to Apologize to South Korea nor a Responsibility to Pay Money
http://ccce.web.fc2.com/imgk/oda.html
South Korea was not a victim but an aggressor that participated in the war as part of Japan.
Even from an international perspective, everything from state compensation to individual compensation was completely and finally settled by the Japan–Korea Basic Treaty.
(Article II, paragraph 1 of the Agreement)
Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea
Under the 1965 Japan–Korea Basic Treaty, Japan paid $300 million in grants, $200 million in loans, and $300 million in private loans.
The total was $800 million.
Since these are amounts from that time, let us convert them into present-day monetary values.
Also, let us focus solely on the $300 million in grants out of the $800 million.
・(Conversion into yen) $300 million × 360 yen (at the time, $1 = 360 yen) = 108 billion yen
・(Conversion into present-day prices) 108 billion yen × 10 (the starting salary for a university graduate at the time was approximately 20,000 yen) = 1.08 trillion yen
Let us divide this by the total of 900,000 people eligible for compensation, comprising the 700,000 forcibly mobilized workers and 200,000 comfort women claimed by South Korea.
There is, of course, an argument that there was no coercion concerning forcible mobilization or comfort women, but here the calculation uses figures that accept South Korea’s claims in their entirety.
・(Conversion per victim of coercion) 1.08 trillion yen ÷ 900,000 people = 1.2 million yen per person
Even this alone amounts to a considerable sum.
The next question, then, is whether this is high or low.
It is often said that Germany has provided sufficient postwar compensation.
Since there are people and newspapers that say Japan should follow Germany’s example, let us use Germany as a reference.
Germany’s compensation for forced laborers amounts to between 300,000 and 800,000 yen when converted into present-day monetary values.
Even Jewish slave laborers, who received the highest amount, received 800,000 yen.
This objective comparison shows that Japan’s postwar compensation to South Korea was at a very high level.
The total of $800 million, including grants, loans, and other financing, was equivalent to 2.3 times South Korea’s national budget at the time, demonstrating just how substantial it was.
Incidentally, this compensation covered the entire Korean Peninsula, and it was the amount the South Korean government took after saying, “If we reunify with North Korea, we will pay the share for the people in the North.”
＊In other words, all Japanese citizens and people throughout the world need to learn from this chapter that the reparations and other payments North Korea seeks to demand from Japan as a matter of course should be paid by the South Korean government.
If we are human beings possessed of sound intelligence.＊
Furthermore, Japan renounced the assets it had left in prewar Korea.
In light of the precedent whereby the personal assets that British people owned in India were returned to their individual owners when India gained independence from Britain, this was an act that fully qualifies as postwar reparations.
What is astonishing is the amount: according to a survey by the General Headquarters’ Civil Property Custodian, it totaled $5.3 billion, excluding military assets.
(Ministry of Finance, Office of Fiscal History, A History of Showa Public Finance: From the End of the War to the Peace Treaty, Toyo Keizai Inc.)
In other words, Japan compensated South Korea with $5.3 billion in prewar assets and $800 million in postwar reparations.
The Japan–Korea Basic Treaty contains the following words.
“Confirm that the postwar settlement has been completely and finally resolved.”
(Article II, paragraph 1 of the Agreement)
However, after the treaty was concluded, South Korea used the settlement funds from Japan for national development without paying compensation to individuals.
There is no doubt that South Korea’s economic growth, known as the “Miracle on the Han River,” was achieved through the efforts of the South Korean people, with the settlement funds paid for both North and South Korea serving as its driving force.
Nevertheless, the South Korean government needs to inform its people about this remarkable treaty.
Is it to conceal the fact that the money was diverted to national development without being paid to individuals?
Or is it to keep stirring up anti-Japanese sentiment indefinitely?
Or both?
As a result, South Koreans still believe that Japan has not fulfilled its responsibilities, feel outraged, and file lawsuits against Japan seeking damages that have already been settled.
Therein lies one of the major gaps in understanding between Japan and South Korea.
Both South Korean and Japanese citizens need to understand this well.
http://blog.livedoor.jp/lancer1/archives/11256231.html
http://koreaphoto.hp.infoseek.co.jp/compensation.html
To be continued.