Published on April 17, 2019.
Centered on a Sankei Shimbun column by Abiru Rui, this piece examines how former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s remarks in South Korea, together with his comments on the comfort women agreement and wartime labor rulings, have contributed to worsening Japan-South Korea relations.
Alongside a strong criticism of NHK’s reporting posture, it warns that the words and actions of former prime ministers and major media figures can seriously damage Japan’s national interest.

2019-04-17
Incidentally, in the Penal Code there is a grave crime that has never once been applied until now.
It is “inducing foreign aggression” under Article 81, and it prescribes no punishment other than the death penalty.
The following is a chapter I published on 3/1.
Among those now watching NHK’s watch9, everyone other than the information-weak who merely subscribe to the Asahi Shimbun and watch NHK news must have felt the worst possible disgust if they know the truth of matters.
They must also have regretted watching such a program, namely NHK’s watch9.
What Arima and Kuwako were saying about Japan-South Korea relations was presented in such a way as to make it seem as though Japan and the Japanese were the problem, uttering outrageous things and one lie after another.
It was a manner of speaking that made it sound as though the people who are, even at this very moment, spreading anti-Japanese propaganda at the United Nations and in Europe and America are Japanese themselves.
The reality is probably that their conduct is in fact no different from that of Yukio Hatoyama described below.
The other day, I wrote that if NHK would begin its broadcasts by saying, “NHK is not Japan’s state broadcaster but South Korea’s state broadcaster, or perhaps China’s state broadcaster,” then decent viewers would not have to feel sickened.
Because they would naturally stop watching in the first place.
The chapter I published on 2018-11-22 under the title, “Those who learned for the first time what Yukio Hatoyama has been doing in South Korea must have felt not only astonishment but heartfelt anger,” is racing far ahead in first place in Ameba’s top 50 searches.
Today, reading Abiru Rui’s serialized column in the Sankei Shimbun, those who learned for the first time what Yukio Hatoyama has been doing in South Korea must have felt not only astonishment but heartfelt anger.
This Yukio Hatoyama too graduated from the University of Tokyo.
It is perhaps the clearest possible proof that one must not assume that simply because someone entered and graduated from the University of Tokyo, he possesses sound judgment.
Former Prime Minister Hatoyama pushes South Korea from behind.
Should one say it was as expected.
On the 21st, the South Korean government announced the dissolution of the foundation established on the basis of the Japan-South Korea agreement over the comfort women issue.
A country that cannot keep international agreements or promises no longer needs to be dealt with, and frankly one does not even wish to mention it.
Still, it is distressing that behind South Korea’s growing arrogance and self-indulgent behavior are Japanese people who encourage and incite South Korea.
The representative example is former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who in South Korea is called a “politician of conscience.”
“Renegotiate the Japan-South Korea agreement.”
“The biggest problem is that two years ago the South Korean side should never have entered into an agreement saying the matter was ‘resolved finally and irreversibly.’
Why did the South Korean government accept an agreement that carries the meaning, ‘We apologized, so we will never apologize again.’
Is it not only natural that the South Korean people should be angry.”
These are words Hatoyama wrote on his own Twitter account in January of this year.
He is picking apart the settlement reached through the Japan-South Korea agreement and stirring up the South Korean side.
And this is a man who, however imperfectly, once served as Prime Minister of Japan.
According to a South Korean newspaper, when he visited Pusan University in October to receive an honorary doctorate in political science, he also insisted that the Japan-South Korea agreement “should be renegotiated,” and said the following as well.
“Such wording as ‘irreversible’ gave the South Korean people the image of being overbearing and hurt the feelings of the South Korean people.”
Also, on the 16th of this month, at a symposium held in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, on the theme of the wartime labor issue and similar matters, he said the following concerning the South Korean Supreme Court ruling ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation.
“Japanese companies and the Japanese government must take it seriously.”
If he keeps saying nothing but such fawning things, of course he will be welcomed and fussed over in South Korea.
He himself may feel good playing the role of a “nice person,” but has it not been the case that the presence of someone like Hatoyama has complicated and worsened Japan-South Korea relations.
No matter how different his view may be from that of the Japanese government, what happens if the South Korean side misunderstands the reality of Japan by saying, “Even a former Japanese prime minister says this,” and continues, as it does now, to repeat unreasonable and arbitrary assertions.
Japan will naturally only intensify its criticism of South Korea and conclude that it has no choice but to ignore what South Korea says, but that in turn invites further backlash from the South Korean side, and the rift between the two countries keeps widening.
What would happen if the enraged South Korean side were to cause an incident in which Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessels or Japanese fishing boats were fired upon around Takeshima, Oki no Shima Town, Shimane Prefecture, or elsewhere.
Japan-South Korea relations would be in a state far beyond mere cooling.
As for Hatoyama, ever since his days as prime minister, I have sensed in him a dangerous trickster-like quality that destroys world order.
It is precisely Hatoyama’s words and actions, which at first glance appear to be “goodwill,” that generate serious tension between Japan and South Korea.
“Takeshima is not Japanese territory.”
Incidentally, in the Penal Code there is a grave crime that has never once been applied until now.
It is “inducing foreign aggression” under Article 81, and it prescribes no punishment other than the death penalty.
The text of the statute is as follows.
“A person who conspires with a foreign state to cause it to exercise armed force against Japan shall be punished by death.”
Of course, I do not say that Hatoyama’s current words and actions fall under this provision, but can one really say with certainty that such a possibility is impossible even in the future.
Hatoyama has also asserted concerning Takeshima that “it is clear that it cannot be called Japan’s inherent territory,” and with regard to the Senkaku Islands, Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture, on which the Japanese government maintains that no territorial issue exists, he ingratiated himself with Chinese dignitaries by calling them “disputed territory.”
The conduct of the South Korean government is childish and emotional, but I feel that Japanese politicians who encourage it are even more frightening.
(Editorial board member and political desk editorial board member)