Sunday May 27, 2012

Noda returns looted royal Korean books to Seoul

Politics ( 22 )

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Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Tuesday evening AFP

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22 Comments

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  • 1

    Spidapig24

    A good start only 1200 more to go.

  • 1

    Cricky

    Are these books to be returned volume by volume, they appear to be more of a souvenir gift. 5 a trip could take some time.

  • 2

    tmarie

    This stuff should have been handed over ages ago. Good for him doing it but now give it all back!!

  • 3

    Tamarama

    It actually amazes me that they would still have this kind of thing. Definitely should have been handed back a long time ago, along with other trophies of colonization. Shameful.

  • 0

    cruzian1

    The ground work was established by former Prime Minister Kan. His leadership in the areas of peace and reconciliation will be remembered by many around the world for decades to come.

  • 2

    Christina O'Neill

    Good to hear the rest of the volumes are to be returned also.It may also help if the true hisory between Korea and Japan is also published as it is hopefully by learning the historical errs of the past that we refrain from repeating them in the future

  • -1

    JapanGal

    And are they going to insist that the PM, one more time apologize for the comfort women?

  • -2

    smithinjapan

    Good gesture on the part of Noda. Hopefully it does indeed lead to better relations. They should avoid talking about the island issue this round.

  • -1

    genjuro

    Noda in this photo looks like that short pudgy guy from Dachou club.

  • 0

    Triumvere

    A good start.

  • -1

    gogogo

    5 out of 1200... seems like a "do what I say and you can get them back" gesture.

  • 3

    Jasen Durant

    It's a good start. Anything that can improve relations is a good thing. I know it isn't much bu Sometimes a little goes a long way. Now if the US, England, France, Germany and other former colonizers could give back what they stole from around the world. I know those objects look good in our museums but they don't belong to us.

  • 0

    Farmboy

    I think it's good to give the books back whether or not this improves relations. They certainly do not belong to Japan, and this is the right thing to do in any case.

  • 0

    Utrack

    Isn't there a Korean Embassy in Japan? A Japanese Official can just leave the books at the Korean Embassy and they could ship the 1200 books home. What's up with holding the rest of the books hostage? Why haven't the Officials in Japan just shipped the 1200 Books back to Korea, what is this 5 book thing supposed to show Korea and PM Noda doesn't have to hand them over personally does he and those Books are long overdo to be returned to Korea.

  • 1

    Badge213

    Because it won't be as symbolic as having the Japanese themselves return it inside Korea then just dropping it at the front steps at the Korean Embassy to the Ambassador.

  • -2

    NetNinja

    What do you want Noda? A Cookie? This doesn't put Japan in the black. As far as history goes Japan is deep in the red.

    He's smart though. It's best to appease the people at the top than to pay money to all those sex slaves. Maybe he could even sway some of the people at the top of Korea's government to try to clam those ol'sex slaves up.

    The real question for Koreans is which kind of paper will satisfy you? This book or cold hard cash?

  • 2

    timtak

    On this forum their appear to be several Westerners showing their disapproval toward the fact that Japan holds in its possession the historical artifacts of their ex-colonies. The fact that Western countries have in their possesion the historical treasures of their ex-colonies was deemed, however, to be off the topic of this forum. How could this be off topic? Could it be that the way that JapanToday censors comparisons of Japanese and Western colonial past to be an expression of an ongoing colonial attitude: we are civilised, they are not?

  • 0

    NetNinja

    I am one of those Westerners. I sincerely wish I could've read what you had to say whether I disagree with it or not.

    This is one of those cases where I'm not really rooting for either team. Instead I'm just keeping score for them. It's like watching Korea vs Japan in Basketball, neither team really excites me but I know the sport so I'm just keeping score.

    If this website were AmericaToday I'm sure we could get on that side of the topic eventually.

    Just a reminder, I sincerely wanted to read your comments whether they are for or against what I have to say on the matter.

    I think this comes down to the word "War Crimes" even though Japan's media most certainly would not use the word in the same sentence as "Japan".

    It's just impression but when we think "War Crimes" I don't think most people go beyond the indiscriminate genocidal killing. The crime here in this article is obviously theft. "Stealing is a form of crime" "By handing over these royal documents Noda is not only showing that Japan committed a multitude of crimes during the course of war but also is slapping Korea's top officials in the face. You don't notice it at first. You have to think about it.

  • 0

    Tamarama

    If it makes you feel any better Timtak, I am also offended by the equivilent held by powerful Western countries. I think it's disrespectful and not in keeping with the times. Should all be sent back, no matter how much it affects museum catalogues.

  • 1

    timtak

    Quite a few people (Ruth Benedict, Arimasa Mori,etc) say that the Japanese lack the moral fibre to make value judgments individualy, rather basing them on what other people think, on the 'vox populi' as it were. Perhpas because I have been in Japan for a long time, I have either lost my moral fibre, or come to think that looking at context is a good idea. So when judging this act of not having returned historical documents to a former conquest, I wonder what is par for the course: the "vox nationalis" what other countries are doing, have done.

    I happen to know that my country is holding on to a lot of similar sorts of historical relics/archive from other conquests. Perhaps the moderator is simply someone who believes that one can comment, and make judgements void of context: from the heart as it were, without taking into consideration similar acts elsehwhere. I can not. The moderator has been so kind as to let my comment stand this time perhaps since I made the connection more clear. In the previous version I only mentioned more concrete examples giving a URL to a list of similar documents that the UK has not returned.

    Does that make Japan's tardiness okay then? I would not go far as to say that at all. I am sure that the Koreans are upset, especially since the Koreans are rare in never having conquered anyone in historical record. But at the same time putting the shoe on the other foot tempers my condemnation at the Japanese. "War crime" is not a term I would use. Perhaps just plain "war." I am, however, pleased that Noda gave the scrolls back, and I hope that there is a lot of repatriation of historic relic/archive all over the world.

  • 0

    Pukey2

    Countries like China and India were looted too. However, nowadays, the Chinese have to buy the goods back.

  • 1

    YuriOtani

    As expected the gesture does nothing, but make them hate us more.

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