hankyoreh

The Japanese government has taken an inappropriate position on the Kim Dae-jung kidnapping. In a press conference two days ago, in connection with former President Kim’s remarks stressing Tokyo’s obligation to clarify the truth, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said, “It is strange that Kim didn’t mention it to the Japanese government when he became president.” When the National Intelligence Service Development Committee for Clarifying the Past announced a report on its investigation into the kidnapping last week, Machimura said that he could not understand the NIS intention to announce the results of its investigation into the affair after 34 years, indicating that his government had no responsibility for the abduction.

When Yoo Myung-hwan, the South Korean ambassador to Tokyo, expressed regret about this incident two days ago, the Japanese government said that it would accept it as an apology, taking the position that the issue of Japan’s sovereignty having been violated had been resolved. In this case, Tokyo should actively clarify the truth about the kidnapping. It was the Korean Central Intelligence Agency that committed the abduction of former President Kim Dae-jung, but the abduction happened in Japan. Moreover, the two governments have put the kidnapping to bed without making much effort to clarify the truth. Seoul has tried to uncover the real state of affairs. It is reasonable for Japan to keep up with these efforts.

Primary responsibility for finding the truth of course lies with the Korean government. The truth commission’s activities were not enough - it did not have investigative powers, it was half made up of government officials and half made up of other private individuals and government agencies did not cooperate with its inquiry. Former Korean Central Intelligence Agency Chief Lee Hu-rak, former Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil, and others who got the operation moving or helped deal with what happened after the fact, were never questioned. If nothing else, the commission got as far as noting that “at the very least, former President Park Chung-hee must have given tacit approval to what was a criminal action by the KCIA.” The only way for the full truth to ever be known would be for the government to conduct a full investigation. Instead of issuing a vague statement of regret for infringing on Japanese sovereignty, the right approach would be to give a clear apology.

This does not mean to say that the Japanese government has less responsibility to bear. It is just one part of Japan’s dark history, as well for the fact that it was in collusion with Korea’s military dictatorship. Its behavior was in sharp contrast to that of France and West Germany, which protested the KCIA’s actions after the 1967 East Berlin Affair, in which the intelligence agency kidnapped Koreans in Europe. Now would be an appropriate time to reveal the clean truth about the Kim Dae-jung kidnapping. Doing so would also help the development of Korea-Japan relations.




Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]