Published on August 29, 2019.
This article introduces an interview with Lee Woo-youn, “South Korea’s Conscience,” published in the monthly magazine WiLL, focusing on the incident in which Lee was attacked at his research institute after speaking historical facts at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
It discusses South Korea’s reaction to removal from Japan’s whitelist, the Moon Jae-in administration’s anti-Japanese policies, the abandonment of the comfort women agreement, the wartime labor ruling, anti-Japanese boycotts, information control, and the danger of anti-Japanese tribalism rooted in South Korean society.

August 29, 2019.
In broad daylight, two complete strangers came to the institute, kicked the entrance door dozens of times, shouted in beastlike loud voices that echoed throughout the entire building, saying things such as “Lee Woo-youn, traitor, pro-Japanese, come out!” and called me out,
The following is from an interview article titled “An Interview with South Korea’s Conscience, Lee Woo-youn,” published in this month’s issue of the monthly magazine WiLL in the special feature “NO South Korea — Declaration of Severance!”
Lee Woo-youn, researcher at the Naksungdae Institute of Economic Research.
Interviewer: Matsuki Kunitoshi.
After making pro-Japanese remarks, he was attacked by thugs.
Is South Korea’s anti-Japanism only becoming more extreme?
Lee Woo-youn is one of the conscientious scholars who feels a sense of crisis over the runaway Moon Jae-in administration and is seeking a path toward friendly relations with Japan in order to prevent South Korea from turning red.
In July, he also gave a speech together with Matsuki Kunitoshi at the plenary session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
However, after returning to South Korea, he was attacked by thugs.
How far has South Korea’s anti-Japanese sentiment risen?
We asked Mr. Lee to speak about the current situation in South Korea and his own circumstances.
With beastlike loud voices.
Matsuki.
First, what was the situation when you were attacked in your own country?
Lee.
In broad daylight, two complete strangers came to the institute, kicked the entrance door dozens of times, shouted in beastlike loud voices that echoed throughout the entire building, saying things such as “Lee Woo-youn, traitor, pro-Japanese, come out!” and called me out, pointed at me, and spat in my face.
Matsuki.
Nevertheless, I hear that the police authorities did not move.
What kind of response do you intend to take toward such forces from now on?
We believe that even if you are attacked by thugs, Professor Lee, you will not bend your convictions.
Lee.
They must be made to bear all criminal and civil responsibility.
No matter what words are hurled at us and no matter what violent acts we are exposed to, we will never bend our claims, no matter how far we must go.
We also intend to demand a public debate.
Matsuki.
An overwhelming majority of Japanese people support South Korea’s removal from the “whitelist.”
To what extent do the Moon Jae-in administration and the South Korean media grasp the situation in Japan?
Also, the Japanese side sees this as the settlement of seventy-five years of Japan-South Korea relations, but I feel that South Korea does not understand that either.
Lee.
Until now, South Korea has criticized and slandered Japan between the two countries and also on the international diplomatic stage, even to the point of distorting history.
In that process, Japan suffered great wounds, and those wounds have accumulated.
South Koreans do not understand the size and depth of those wounds.
At present, Japan’s response is the first public declaration that it will no longer suffer such wounds, and that will is firm.
It is the first time since diplomatic relations were normalized in 1965.
South Korea does not understand this perception among Japanese people.
Matsuki.
The Japanese government is merely correcting the Moon administration’s insincere diplomacy; it is not bashing South Korea or South Koreans.
Lee.
The Moon administration is the government in South Korean history that has promoted “anti-Japanism” the most, and it is the government most active in using anti-Japanism.
It has effectively abandoned the comfort women agreement, and on the so-called wartime labor issue it effectively supports the Supreme Court ruling of October 30, 2018.
Moreover, it has ignored all of Japan’s concerns and requests that the South Korean government respond properly, as well as requests for bilateral diplomatic talks and the establishment of an arbitration committee by a third country.
Since this is the Japanese government’s response after seeing the attitude of the South Korean government, it is by no means bashing South Korea or South Koreans.
However, because such things have continued until now, it is objectively true that Japanese people interested in Japan-South Korea relations are criticizing South Korea.
South Koreans must also accept this as a fact.
Anti-Japanism that knows no stopping.
Matsuki.
Twenty thousand stickers denouncing the Abe administration have been posted in the subway; Japanese-made stationery is not being used in schools; the fee for whale sightseeing boats in the Ulsan area has been increased from about 2,000 yen to about 720,000 yen; there are calls to boycott the Tokyo Olympics.
Breaking things or striking out at things to show anger seems like something children do, but how do you feel about this series of protests against Japan?
Also, how do you think Japan-South Korea relations can be normalized in the future?
Lee.
South Korea’s current anti-Japanese movement, boycott movement, and the like have distorted historical understanding in the background.
The same is true of the Supreme Court ruling of October 30 last year, which is also the core of the problem.
This cannot be explained except as pre-modern “anti-Japanese tribalism.”
The present situation will bring far greater damage to the South Korean side than to the Japanese side.
However, this is a short-term matter.
South Korea must agree to go to an arbitration committee by a third country or to the International Court of Justice.
Japan must maintain the active and proactive attitude it currently has.
Through such a process, a correct understanding of the history of Japan-South Korea relations will spread among South Koreans, and as a result, in the long term, relations between the two countries will essentially improve and bring far greater benefits to each side.
Matsuki.
Where do you see the direction that the Moon administration is aiming for?
Is it, after all, “red unification”?
Also, through information manipulation by the Historical Distortion Prohibition Act and VANK, a private organization that carries out information and propaganda activities through the internet and other means in order to spread what it calls the correct image of South Korea throughout the world, as well as information control and regulation on YouTube and the like, and suppression of speech, are South Korean citizens finding it difficult to obtain correct information?
Lee.
It is probably certain that, at the very least, it is aiming for unification through the “Koryo Federation system.”
It is also aiming to block information in other ways, but it will not succeed.
That is because South Koreans are skilled at using new media such as YouTube and SNS to create new systems of information transmission, and they also react very sensitively to such pressure.
This article continues.