▲ NHK captures the report of President Moon Jae-in’s 102nd anniversary March 1 commemoration. At the top, a subtitle saying “We are ready for dialogue with Japan” was inserted at the bottom, and at the bottom, “The two countries have become very important neighboring countries in all fields, including economic, cultural and personal exchanges.” Ⓒ NHK
Since August 14, 1991, when Kim Hak-soon, a comfort woman victim (a sexual slave in the Japanese military), testified, successive Korean governments have shown an attitude that prioritizes Korea-Japan relations rather than solving problems. He seemed to turn his gaze toward solving the problem, but eventually, he used to see Japan’s attention. The Moon Jae-in administration also declared’the government will not make any additional claims against Japan’ through a New Year’s press conference on January 18 of this year and an announcement of the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 23rd.
However, the Ramsey crisis that occurred immediately afterwards left the South Korean government ashamed. February 1 <산케이신문>In’Professor Ramsay’s thesis in March <국제 법경제학지>This incident, which has spread with the news of the news, makes us think whether the attitude of the Korean government is really appropriate.
As we have witnessed since February 1, the power of criticizing Ramsey in the United States did not come only from Korean students or Korean politicians. American citizens, scholars, and politicians of all races and ancestry are outraged by the war crimes of Japanese imperialism and John Mark Ramsey’s indiscretion. The transnational and transnational energy contained in the comfort women issue worked on its own, affecting American society.
Now, the Ramsey crisis is showing signs of spreading beyond the United States. 9th <연합뉴스> As in the article “The Ramsay Mangeon Global Community… <가디언>, <인디펜던트>, <데일리메일>This was reported in detail. These media, which have global repercussions, introduced a situation in which Ramsey’s thesis is being criticized for lack of evidence. This increases the likelihood that the Ramsey crisis will cross the Atlantic and affect Europe as well.
The report that triggered this situation was released. <산케이신문>Published an article that tried to curtail the current phenomenon of further growing international consensus on the comfort women issue. In an article on February 20, Kuroda Katsuhiro, who served as the head of the Seoul branch, dismissed the situation as “anti-Japanese ethnicism exports to the United States” and stipulated it. The title is also “Anti-Japanese tribalism finally exported to the United States” (anti-Japanese nationalism” ついに米国へ輸出).
Kuroda treated the Ramsey crisis as an’interesting Korean and Korean society issue’ rather than an international issue. I only emphasized “condemnation of Korean society, including fun Koreans,” but did not mention how much Americans blame Ramsey. The Japanese far-right, who has been promoting the comfort women’s propaganda aimed at the United States, did not point out the reality that is facing headwinds, but cut it down to just “anti-Japanese tribalism landing in the United States”.
The comfort women issue is spreading around the world to the extent that Japan’s far right is uncomfortable. The Ramsey incident served as an unexpected catalyst.
In this situation, it is strange that the Korean government, not the other country’s government, made the default stance of’no additional claims’ and did not show any change in attitude to this policy after the Ramsey incident, although it was revealed before the Ramsey incident in this situation. It cannot be.
The Korean government has been avoiding confrontation with the Japanese government
The experience of the 1990s proved that such a policy that prioritizes Korea-Japan relations over its own citizens is difficult to last. In 1993, the first year of its inauguration, the Kim Young-sam administration also declared such a policy, but it did not succeed in calming down the comfort women problem rather than solving the problem. As of March 14 of that year <한겨레> The article reported on the contents of the Blue House Chief Secretary’s Meeting on March 13, the day before, the day before “not to demand compensation from Japan for comfort women”.
President Kim said,’It is important to uncover the truth about the military comfort women issue on the Japanese side, and material compensation issues are not important.’
The Kim Young-sam administration tried to treat the comfort women issue as a domestic issue, not an international issue. Such an idea was also revealed in the’Life Stability Support Act for Japanese Military Comfort Women under Japanese Empire’ enacted on June 11 of that year.
This law, which regulates the provision of living protection, medical protection, and living security subsidies to victims, is based not on the Japanese government’s liability for compensation, but on the Korean government’s substantive support. In addition, they showed an attitude that focused only on material support rather than the emotions of the victims.
In addition, by stipulating in Article 1 that’the state aims to protect and support them based on the humanitarian spirit’ (Article 1), victims are not’people who should be apologized and compensated by the Japanese government’, but’the Korean government. People who deserve the humanitarian benefits of’.
The outcome of the Korean government’s avoidance of a head-on breakthrough with Japan is well evidenced by the situation over the next two years. Observing the situation over these two years reveals that the Korean government’s policy at first seemed to lead to good results, but eventually worsened the situation.
On August 4 of that year, Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, a spokesman for the Miyazawa Kiichi Cabinet, announced the so-called Kono talk. In this discourse, Minister Kono admitted the responsibility of the Japanese state, saying, “The comfort stations were prepared at the request of the military authorities at the time, and the former Japanese military directly or indirectly involved in the establishment, management and transport of comfort women.” .
It can be said that the expression of the position of the Kim Young-sam administration also influenced Japan’s announcement of this discourse. It can be said that the belief that Korea will not respond to the government level has been the background for admitting its own responsibility, although limited.
At the time when the international order was fluid due to the global post-Cold War, Japan was pushing to advance into a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. US support for this was also secured.
As of July 3, 1992 <동아일보> “At the US-Japan summit meeting on the 2nd, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa expressed his desire to participate in the UN Security Council as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.” The president also expressed his basic support position, and the Japanese media reported it from Washington,” he said.
Japan’s announcement of Kono’s discourse may be due to the need to improve its image in order to advance into the permanent member of the Security Council. It can be said that the Kim Young-sam administration’s statement of position on March 13 also had some influence.
However, the Kim Young-sam administration’s policy did not lead to resolving the problem. It did not succeed in silenced the voices of the people. The’non-response’ of the Korean government has resulted in the Japanese government being reassured rather than impressed, which led to a situation in which Japan came up with formal measures rather than practical.
On July 18, 1995, Japan launched the Asian Women’s Fund to solve the comfort women issue on the premise of’no Japanese government’s responsibility’. The Japanese government was not directly responsible for it, but tried to close the problem with a private organization.
This measure, based on Kono’s discourse, resulted in further infuriation between the victims and the Koreans. The hopes of the two governments, hoping to be quiet, did not come true. The Kim Young-sam administration’s policy, which avoided the government’s response, made the situation even worse.
The same was true of successive governments after Kim Young-sam. He avoided resolving the government-to-government issues in the thought that it would not interfere with Japan-Korea relations. This attitude made it easier for Japan to see Korea. So, the problem of comfort women has grown even more, and this has made Korea-Japan relations more unsettled.
Beyond ethnic issues to humanity issues
▲ On the afternoon of February 24, at the ‘1480th Regular Demand Demonstration to Solve the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Problem’ held in front of the former Japanese embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul, a citizen wrote a thesis claiming that the comfort women were prostitutes, Professor Mark Ramsey of Harvard University Law School. A sign of condemnation is hanging around his neck. 2021.2.24 ⓒ Yonhap News
In such a situation, the comfort women problem has spread to the United States and the world beyond Korea and Japan with its own momentum. Despite the two governments’ reluctance to solve the problem, this issue has formed a global consensus because this is not a problem only for victims, not only for women, or only for Koreans, but a common problem for humanity. Due to such characteristics, it can be seen that it has spread with its own power generation to some extent.
Just because the Korean government is passive does not silence the comfort women problem. Covering the comfort women issue and prioritizing Korea-Japan relations does not stabilize Korea-Japan relations. The comfort women issue with its own power is constantly beating on the relationship between Korea and Japan, so if it is not resolved quickly, the relationship between Korea and Japan will inevitably become more unstable. If you really want to stabilize Korea-Japan relations, you have to solve this problem first.
The Ramsey Incident vividly demonstrates the dynamics of the comfort women problem. The comfort women issue is making it a global issue more clearly. In this situation, if the South Korean government does not proactively come forward, there will be nothing strange like that.
The Japanese government is running anywhere in the world to prevent the installation of a girl statue. On the other hand, the Korean government has set up a’policy not to make any additional claims’. The Ramsey Incident is urging the South Korean government to awaken, saying,’Get up now.’