hankyoreh

The Institute for Research in Collaboration Activities’ (IRCA) “Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Figures” that records the pro-Japanese activities of 4,389 individuals during the colonial era has been published on Sunday. It has been 60 years since the Special Investigative Committee of Anti-national Activities, which was created by the Constitutional Assembly in 1948, ended in 1949 with no results. Accordingly, this encyclopedia project is significant in that it allows us to examine the twisted structure of our modern society in which pro-Japanese figures have entered the social mainstream.

It goes without saying that the encyclopedia’s compilation process underwent ups and downs. The project, which began in Dec. 2001, met strong resistance from vested individuals and groups. Every time a provisional list of names was released, lawsuits and organized movements to terminate the project followed. In late 2003, the National Assembly completely cut funding for the project, but about 30,000 citizens spontaneously raised 750 million Won within a mere 10 days. Support from the public and not the politicians or the government, who have failed to properly fulfill their duties, made the project possible.

The purpose of the encyclopedia is to record shameful acts of collaboration and in bravely facing them, create a path to the future. This means what while it is too late to impute legal responsibility for pro-Japanese acts, we must prevent repeating mistakes from history by providing a thorough record of what happened at the time. Citizens who have not learned from the past cannot properly prepare for the future. That the Lee Myung-bak administration, far from helping the project led by the IRCA and the Compilation Committee for the Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Figures, actually tried to have them gagged is in this regard highly inappropriate.

There will perhaps be some descendants of those listed in the encyclopedia who think they have been wronged. Most of those who raise objections may do so regarding the assessment rather than the historical facts as it is not easy to draw a rigid line at what constitutes active pro-Japanese collaboration since several people appear to have engaged in both anti-Japanese and pro-Japanese activities. However, if descendants attempt to provide a weak rationalization in order to justify their ancestors’ pro-Japanese collaboration, Korean citizens who possess sufficient capacity will not tolerate it.

The issue of pro-Japanese collaboration is like a tumor that has grown throughout our modern history. Accordingly, a multi-faceted approach to the issue cannot and must not come to an end through the release of the encyclopedia. This publication should raise awareness about a history of pro-Japanese activities that has not been clearly concluded. It is a sad fact that the Presidential Committee for the Inspection of Collaboration in Japanese Imperialism, established in 2005 during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, will cease to exist as of this month due to government disinterest.

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