Published on August 29, 2019.
This article continues an essay by Lee Woo-youn published in the monthly magazine Hanada.
It discusses his sense of discomfort with historical books on Korea-Japan relations written by South Korean scholars and specialists, contradictions in historical narratives seen from statistical and economic perspectives, historical facts revealed through the work of Ahn Byung-jik, and the activities of the Association Opposing Anti-Japanese Nationalism.
It introduces Lee Woo-youn’s call for a public debate with critics, including the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, and his effort to restore true history and normalize Korea-Japan relations.

August 29, 2019.
Since I was a graduate student, I have read voraciously historical books on Korea-Japan relations written by South Korean scholars and specialists, but no matter which one I read, they were all things that gave me a sense of discomfort.
The following is the continuation of the previous chapter.
Calling for a public debate.
Since I was a graduate student, I have read voraciously historical books on Korea-Japan relations written by South Korean scholars and specialists, but no matter which one I read, they were all things that gave me a sense of discomfort.
My specialty is economics, a field of study that objectively analyzes and researches statistics, numbers, and the like.
It does not judge things through colored glasses or subjectivity.
When I read from that perspective, the contents written in historical books on Korea-Japan relations have no consistency at all.
For example, between 1940 and 1945, the population of Korea increased approximately twofold.
However, books say that “plunder and looting by the Japanese military occurred one after another.”
If that is so, why did the population double?
When compared with statistical figures, it is clearly strange.
Amid this, a controversy occurred in South Korea in which the words and actions of Ahn Byung-jik, professor emeritus at Seoul National University, were criticized as “affirming the period of Japanese rule.”
I became interested in that, and the more I read books by Ahn Byung-jik and gathered and examined various materials myself, the more I came to understand that the books written by South Korean scholars that I had read since graduate school were clearly contrary to historical facts and full of lies.
From there, I established the “Association Opposing Anti-Japanese Nationalism,” and I continue my research every day even now.
Until now, many people have been misled by the irresponsible words and actions of South Korean scholars, intellectuals, and politicians who exaggerate and distort history, but now a movement seeking correct historical facts is also spreading in South Korea.
I feel that directly.
It is still difficult for ordinary citizens to openly and loudly object to anti-Japanism or speak the true history, but if there is some trigger, such voices may spread through South Korean society all at once.
They may erupt when President Moon’s policy failures reach a stage where they can no longer be concealed by anti-Japanism.
The other day, using the royalties from the thirty thousand copies sold, we placed a newspaper advertisement calling on scholars and politicians who criticize us, as well as the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, or the Korean Council, to hold a public debate.
Together with the members of the “Association Opposing the Installation of Statues of Comfort Women and Labor-Mobilized Workers,” we are also planning a demonstration opposing the “comfort women demonstrations” held every Wednesday in front of the Japanese Embassy in South Korea.
If things continue this way, South Korea will not only be unable to develop, but the country itself will perish.
I have that sense of crisis.
From now on, I want to stand in solidarity with rational Japanese people as well and take action to expose the absurdity of anti-Japanese policies and to restore the true history.
I firmly believe that this will contribute to restoring Korea-Japan relations and further developing friendship and good-neighborly relations between the two countries.