Japan's Korean envy

By John Burton

Koreans are angry about the growing nationalism of the Japanese government when it comes to issues from Dokdo to comfort women. But they also can take perverse pride in it as well, since Japan's posturing reveals the gnawing sense of inferiority that Japan now feels toward Korea.

That is a huge psychological shift in relations between the two countries. For centuries, the Japanese looked down upon the Koreans with a dismissive attitude. Racist stereotypes of Koreans as garlic-smelling peasants were used to justify both Japan's harsh colonial rule and the continued discrimination against the Korean-Japanese population.

But Japan is no longer self-confident and feelings of anxiety about its national status are growing. The country's economy has been stagnant for more than two decades. The same can be said of its political system, which has failed to tackle the increasing challenges that the nation faces. The result has been a population that feels both alienated and disenfranchised.

In contrast, Korea's international image has grown, particularly since the turn of the century. Korea now makes cooler gadgets. It's Samsung and LG are on the rise, not Sony. Korea has also bested Japan in terms of soft power. While Japanese pop songs and anime once dominated Asian markets, it is now the Korean wave.

If you are a young Japanese male faced with an uncertain economic future and see your wife or girlfriend swooning over pictures of handsome Korean drama stars and flocking to Seoul on shopping sprees, you might feel resentment and be susceptible to Korea bashing. It is this demographic segment that has responded strongest to the nationalist rhetoric of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In the current furor in Korea over Abe's provocative statements and actions concerning Japan's responsibility for military aggression and treatment of Asian people during World War II, what has been lost is recognition that many Japanese are now either envious or jealous of South Korea's success.

Because of the national humiliation that Koreans suffered during nearly four decades of Japanese colonial rule, their national identity, both North and South, has been defined to a large extent by their opposition to Japan. But that attitude is now blinding them to the significant changes that have taken place. While South Korea's modernization was motivated by a desire to match Japan's success and thus end Korea's shame, that goal has now been largely achieved.

Should Korea continue to see itself as a victim? It's an important question since Japan's feelings of victimization are also coming to the fore, based on its defeat in World War II, the belief that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki expiated its wartime guilt, and the sense that Japanese imperialism was little different from similar Western actions in Asia. The embracing of a victim complex by both Korea and Japan is helping drive the conflict between the two.

Moreover, Korea is behaving in ways that appear provocative from the Japanese perspective. President Park Geun-hye last year requested that a memorial hall be opened in Harbin, China, to honor Ahn Jung-geun, who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the Japanese resident-general of Korea, there in 1909, just before Korea's annexation by Japan. The Japanese regarded the move as controversial since they see Ito as a respected Meiji-era statesman and Ahn as a terrorist rather than a freedom fighter.

Such historical point-scoring, whether justifiable or not, carries with it potentially damaging consequences. China readily agreed to Park's request and opened the memorial hall this year. Although China also has long honored Ahn as an anti-Japanese activist, Beijing's cooperation with Park can also be seen as encouraging the growing split between South Korea and Japan.

The deteriorating relations between South Korea and Japan are alarming the U.S., which relies on both countries to help maintain security in Northeast Asia and curb possible aggression by both China and North Korea. There are worries in Washington that Seoul is drifting into the Chinese camp.

The challenge now for South Korea is to try to heal relations with Japan despite Tokyo's gratuitous gestures to whitewash its war crimes. Seoul should set the example of diplomatic leadership and dial down its anti-Japanese emotions.

South Korea could follow the example of Poland, which suffered far worse during World War II at the hands of Nazi Germany, with millions of its citizens being killed. Warsaw now enjoys good relations with Berlin, underscored by growing economic ties. Some would argue that this has been made possible because Germany has atoned for its barbarous wartime behavior, while Japan has not.

However, President Park Geun-hye is in a position to establish herself as a respected stateswoman by resisting the temptation to succumb to domestic popular opinion and instead find areas of common interest with Japan that would improve relations, which would help persuade Tokyo to make concessions on the historical record that it is so strongly resisting now.

John Burton, a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is now a Seoul-based independent journalist and media consultant. He can be reached at john.burton@insightcomms.com.