hankyoreh

Educational officials from Korea and Japan held a joint seminar on responding to Japanese textbook distortions. The Daegu chapter of the Korean Teachers’ Union and Hiroshima Prefecture chapter of the Japan Teachers Union said they plan to put together an auxiliary textbook for use in both countries. Moreover, in relation to Japanese textbook distortions and Shimane Prefecture’s “Takeshima Day” ordinance, civic groups in both nations have joined hands to hold demonstrations to resolve Japanese textbook distortions.
These moves are noteworthy in that they could be realistic means to liquidate the past between the two nations. The joint publication of an auxiliary textbook, in that it would give students in both nations a proper historical view and understanding of history, would lend great strength to correcting Japan’s historical distortions. Moreover, the spread of such moves will be of qualitative help in blocking unreasonableness and rash behavior on the part of Japanese rightists and pressuring the government and prefectures into liquidating the past.

It’s been of great benefit that this opportunity has focused attention on Japan's healthy civil society. It’s worth listening to the members of Japanese civic groups, who say that the issue of liquidating the past cannot be resolved through fighting with the rightists, and that the best way is to resolve it through cool and rational dialogue with Japanese civil society. It may be nothing more than a beginning and the scale is yet small, but the reason why we must cultivate alliances between the civil societies of both countries can be found here.
In order to widen this solidarity, we must have our make our own contributions of truth and justice. Emotional responses, radical behavior or excessive speech may bring about antipathy to the reasonableness of our claims. In that regard, we believe the Foreign Ministry’s request for Masan’s city assembly to withdraw its “Daemado Day” is proper. Such an ordinance could bring unnecessary diplomatic fighting and conflict and play into the strategy of the Japanese rightists. If that happens, revealing the truth would be relegated to a secondary issue. No matter how expedient a measure may be in revealing Japan’s unreasonableness, it’s not persuasive for us to despise a method when used by the Japanese while we resort to the very same method.

The Hankyoreh, 21 March 2005.


[Translations by Seoul Selection (MRT)]