Shameless and impudent

By Seoh Bong-seong

In his famous book “Guns, Germs & Steel," UCLA Professor Jared Diamond said the grammar and vocabulary of the Korean and Japanese languages were 15 percent similar. That linguistic relationship points to a separation from each other about 5,000 years ago.

Around 400 B.C., before the unification of the three kingdoms of Silla, Goguryo and Baekje, there were likely a variety of languages spoken on the Korean Peninsula. The modern Korean language originated from the language of Silla, which unified the three in 676 A.D.

The languages of the two kingdoms defeated by Silla, Goguryo and Baekje, virtually disappeared. Diamond believes one of those may have become Japanese, and, in fact, some surviving Goguryo words are more similar to old Japanese than to modern Korean.

At this point, genetic and physical similarities are more evident between Koreans and Japanese than language similarities. Like the Arabs and the Jews, the Korean and the Japanese have the same lineage, but have been hostile toward each other for a long time.

This situation could be easily resolved through mutual understanding and common sense. The two countries could also be described as twins who grew up together. The political futures of both depend on the successful rediscovery and management of the ancient relationship between them.

Recently, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe justified his Cabinet minister’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates war criminals. He also ordered the removal of information in a high school history textbook about the slaughter following the 1923 Kanto Earthquake in Japan of nearly 7,000 innocent Korean people.

Another textbook claims Dokdo islets are without doubt Japanese territory, but that Korea has dominated by force. However, one more Japanese history text book was found by Nam Ju-hyun at the National Japanese Assembly Museum, which reads that Dakeshima is Korean territory.

The book's title is “ New Historical Map of Japan," published by Meiji Publishing Co. in 1931. The statement is made on page 13 of the book. Relatedly, the Senkaku (Diayou) islands should be returned to China, because Japanese took them away from China by force after the Sino-Japanese War.

During World War II, the imperial Japanese government cheated or kidnapped young women in Korea, China and Southeast Asia, promising them good pay in factories. Instead, they put them to work as what they called “comfort women,” meaning sexual slaves servicing Japan’s soldiers. The women’s camp followed the soldiers and their camps as they moved. I have heard there has never been such a thing in world history.

I contend that Japan will be unable to become a true world leader until it can properly heal the wounds it inflicted and thoroughly recompense its victims, no matter how long it takes.

German police recently arrested 93-year-old Hans Lipschis, who they say was involved in killing Jewish prisoners while he worked as a Nazi guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp from 1941 thru 1945 in Poland.

In 1970, the late chancellor of West Germany, Willy Brandt, knelt down before a Jewish monument, apologized, and returned a South Korea-sized territory to Poland. As Brandt knelt down, Germany could again stand up as the center of Europe. Current German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that her country is permanently responsible for the victims, the crimes committed, and the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis.

With that in mind, how can we explain the recent actions of the Japanese prime minister?

The writer is professor emeritus of Department of Chinese Language and Culture in Jeju International University. His email address is benseoh@naver.com.