Lee urges Japan to face history in Liberation Day speech

Saturday 16th August, 02:07 PM JST

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NeoJamal at 08:06 PM JST - 16th August

“face up to history and refrain from making the foolish mistake of repeating the unfortunate past again today.”

He's right, if Japan should colonise Korea again it should massacre rather than enslave the native population. This method worked well for securing Hokkaido, where you don't see Ainus protesting because they are all dead.
browny1 at 08:31 PM JST - 16th August

Kimigano - "notice how japan politicians have always been above this"

My evening was dull and boring until I read this. Now I feel fresh and invigorated with a smile a mile wide.

This day IS korea's liberation/independence day. What else would you call the beginning of the end of 40years of occupation, subjugation and oppression? A day of sadness to see our dearly beloved brethren leave our shores after giving us 40 years of joy???

It's not rocket science - it's just simple human thoughts expressing the desire to to warn others of being careful where they tread.

Simple.
Nerzhgul at 09:31 PM JST - 16th August

"if Japan should colonise Korea again it should massacre rather than enslave the native population" - NeoJamal

??? I think I can tell which way you're leaning towards! So genocide is an acceptable form of politics in Japan? I'm just wondering if you'd feel the same if it was Korea, or China that came to "massacre rather than enslave the native population"... Think before you step, you might find that people actually start talking to you!! (or staying in the same room for more than 2 mins...)
NeoJamal at 10:09 PM JST - 16th August

This day IS korea's liberation/independence day. What else would you call the beginning of the end of 40years of occupation, subjugation and oppression? A day of sadness to see our dearly beloved brethren leave our shores after giving us 40 years of joy???

Yeah and I bet the non-white Commonwealth member states are complaining too after inhereting the English political and cultural establishments despite the harsh treatment of some of their locals.

The nationalists that rule Korea on ther otherhand disregard what they got from the Japanese: Germanic law, education method, colonial architecture that they preserve e.t.c. and exploit the injustices experienced by a minority of their population e.g. sex slaves and coal miners in order to obscure the merits from history. Their agenda? they seem to treat their colonial history as an 'enduring stigma', but no reasonable person would perceive its effects nor conceive such stigma in the first place.

Lee Myung Bak is not preaching world peace, he is venting his spite that is shared by nationalists like himself who have low esteem of their country because it was colonised. Had Korea been a colonial power that exploited countries around the Pacific rim (including Japan) I doubt they would have a problem with such historical circumstance.

This concept that Korea is ignoble because of colonialism doesn't do much justice for many Koreans today who believe their country is great from all the proud achievements she has accomplished and benefits that the country yields for them and the world today. I say Korea is probably the most affluent nation in the world that has a colonial history today, surpassing all those ex-British colonies that complain far less about how their former imperialists masters screwed them over in the past.

On a rather pompous note on my part, the opulent state of South Korea today only serves to justify Japan's past colonial intervention, and yes many did suffer under the occupation. There is something that can be learnt from this as Lee Myung Bak says: that is to respect the fundamental rights of individuals.
OssanULTRA at 10:16 PM JST - 16th August

"He's right, if Japan should colonise Korea again it should massacre rather than enslave the native population. This method worked well for securing Hokkaido, where you don't see Ainus protesting because they are all dead."

Actually a great many of them have been "assimilated". If you want to start talking about aboriginal peoples being massacred before 1900 stat with Europeans in North, South and Central America, Africa, Asia, Oceania. The scale makes the Ainu issue insignificant. Furthmore, very little assimilation is evident, rather, utter and complete genocide was the rule.
OssanULTRA at 10:19 PM JST - 16th August

Koreans have the biggest chips on their shoulders in all of Asia. In stark contrast, Vietnam wins my admiration, even despite being a socialst countyry.
NeoJamal at 10:24 PM JST - 16th August

??? I think I can tell which way you're leaning towards! So genocide is an acceptable form of politics in Japan? I'm just wondering if you'd feel the same if it was Korea, or China that came to "massacre rather than enslave the native population"... Think before you step, you might find that people actually start talking to you!! (or staying in the same room for more than 2 mins...)

I don't think the Chinese and Koreans would need to massacre the Japanese to run an effective occupation. Just as look at the ease at which GHQ ran the country after Japan surrendered, Japanese become sheepish whenever they perceive a superior power has beset upon them, no resistance, just shikataganai. It's just a question of practicallity really, but if massacre just happens to be the case, what a waste of good engineers and manga artists (some of them can cook quite exceptionally well sigh). The world can survive another day without Japan don't you think?
browny1 at 11:29 PM JST - 16th August

Neo-J - Well looky. A spokesperson for the Koreans. All the Koreans in fact, with a not too subtle reminder that their greatness today is relative to the greatness of their colonizer. Straight out of Monty Python - Life of Brian. "What did the Romans ever do for us?" Boredering on plagiarism in fact. And what the europeans did in their colonies and how they're thought about today is of no relevance to the point at hand. That is it is totally within the rights of the occupied - Korea - to make comment about the occupiers - Japan. Your understanding that "no reasonable person" should feel stigmatized from such occupation is a true pearl of wisdom. And the supposition that if the koreans were the colonizers of asia they'd feel different about the benefits that colonialism can bring to a society, shows great insight to understanding the situation. If only we were all thieves, then we could truly feel for the benefits that thievery may bestow upon us.

For sure Lee has an agenda and he certainly is trying to reap a full harvest from it - as is the whim of every political leader - sincerely or otherwise, but to begin to speak on "their" behalf is not pompous (your word) but simply tedious.
TonyUS at 03:51 AM JST - 17th August

These people are idiots. Lee sounds like another whipped puppy just like the attitude of China's leaders. All based on nationalism and face they try to keep as positive to their people. The only thing is this issue is history and by now should be lost in history just the same as other wars in the past.
sdpat11 at 05:43 AM JST - 17th August

There was a wide scale rumor in South Korea during the last presidential race saying that Lee's mother is Japanese. Is that true?
chardk1 at 01:50 PM JST - 17th August

Blame Japan, don't thank the U.S., we're always good, everybody else is trying to screw us. What a positive message to spread on Liberation Day.
presto345 at 02:54 PM JST - 17th August

Many powerful nations have colonized the weaker ones since times immemorial. Do they get reminded of that period in the manner Lee thinks it necessary to do? How sad he has nothing more positive to offer.
LIBERTAS at 03:21 PM JST - 17th August

"Do they get reminded of that period in the manner Lee thinks it necessary to do?" Only when denial and selective memory loss is pathological.
chardk1 at 05:57 PM JST - 17th August

There are some pretty right wing politicians in Japan too, Shintaro Ishihara being a particularly notable example. Koizumi, Abe, Aso, all these guys are certainly well right of center on a lot of issues. And leaders of every country, including the US and Japan, certainly will try to fan patriotic (at best) or nationalistic (at worse) or outright xenophobic (at worst) sentiments to push their agendas.

But I think it's a bit different from Korea where it is standard practice for the President on down to voice blatantly hostile sentiments toward the country's allies as a standard tactic for deflecting criticism toward their own failings. Ishihara may have anti-Korean views or an ultra-nationalistic view of history, but when has he ever blamed Korea or the US when criticized for his governance of Tokyo? To me, that is not a minor distinction. Also, is there any real difference between Japan pretending not to have done anything bad before 1945 and Koreans pretending no Koreans collaborated with the Japanese, or that they somehow liberated themselves after it? How can you be morally outraged that some other country insists on doing precisely the same thing you do? I don't get it or buy it.
OssanULTRA at 10:55 PM JST - 17th August

"Only when denial and selective memory loss is pathological."

I couldn't find better words to describe the SKorean govt and the ultra-nationalism/xenophobia in that country.