Author: Committee of the Directory of Pro-Japanese Collaborators
Publisher: Institute of National Issues
Hardcover | 3-vol. set / 3000 pages | 257*188mm
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About This Book
Nation Should Confront History Not to Repeat Mistakes
Can Koreans like the Japanese from the bottom of their hearts? Or can
the Korean people overcome the trauma resulting from 35 years of Japan's
colonization during the first half of the 20th century? The answer to
the two different -- actually the same -- questions will be, "No," at
least as long as this nation refuses to face historical facts as they
are.
The publication of the "Biographical Directory of Pro-Japanese
Collaborators" by a group of private scholars Sunday was significant in
this regard as the first step toward the right direction.
It took eight years for the Institute for Research on Collaborationist
Activities to finish the three-volume, 3,000-page compilation, which
contains the list of 4,389 people, who the publisher says "inflicted
physical, material and mental damages, directly and indirectly, on
Koreans and other people by positively cooperating with the Japanese
imperialists' pillage of sovereignty, colonial rule and war of
aggression."
Given the dissent and protests against the list raised by the
descendants of those on it as well as the conservative establishment,
however, it may take as many years for the book to fully get over all
these controversies before being undisputedly recognized as an official
record.
And the listing of some figures appears more controversial than others.
Take, for instance, former President Park Chung-hee, who wrote a letter
of allegiance to the Japanese Imperialist Army in blood, and fought
against the Chinese resistance troops, which included some Korean
independence fighters. Park's supporters argue the
general-turned-president should be taken off the list for his
contribution to the nation's industrialization decades later.
Yet, the nation doesn't have to divide all historical figures either as
patriots or traitors. Nor should one person's merits be allowed to
offset his or her demerits, and vice versa. The same could be said about
20 people, who had been formerly categorized as "contributors to
national independence" but were re-classified as collaborators this
time.
Still others point out the "inevitability" of circumstances, in which
people had few other choices but to cooperate with the colonialists for
the survival of their organizations, families or themselves. True, it
would be too much to expect every single Korean at the time to become an
independence fighter, in which case the nation would not have been
annexed by Japan in the first place. The compilers of the list might
then consider grading the collaborationists by the gravity of their
activities, or at least dividing them into "active" and "passive"
groups.
Again, however, there can be no revocation of acts themselves committed
by leaders and public figures, as what's done is done.
Critics of the publication also note the ideological bias of its
compilers, saying they were too lenient on left-wing leaders, an
allegation on which the institute is required to state its stance.
That said, there should be no more ideological wrangle over this issue,
as seen by some conservatives' attack on this as a job of the leftists
to deny -- or at least weaken -- the legitimacy of the Republic of Korea
in comparison with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the
north. The battle over the superiority of ideology and political system
has ended on the Korean Peninsula with the decisive, one-sided victory
of South Korea, and no amount of collaborationist lists can shake this
country's stability.
If we avoid facing the shameful history as it is, however, we can hardly
be free from it. And if Koreans do not recognize what actually happened,
how can we demand the Japanese to do so?
--Koreatimes.co.kr
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