Mutually accept ‘Light and Shade’ of World Heritage with generosity

Japanese people had their eyes glued to the final match of the Woman’s World Cup finals in Canada on Monday this week, but got hugely disappointed as Japan suffered an unexpected crushing defeat by the U.S.

However, news that came from Germany the previous night sent the entire Japanese archipelago to enthusiasm and acclaims. At the UNESCO conference that continued into an overtime session due to stalled consultations with Korea, “Registration of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution sites as a World Heritage was decided. Watching subtitles on TV, I also exclaimed unknowingly, “We did it.”

Please don’t get me wrong. I have not been that obsessed with registration of World Heritage. However, with Korea-Japan relations remaining at the bottom, if the registration was postponed this time, bilateral relations would have fallen into abyss, and anti-Korea sentiment in Japan could spread like wildfire instantly. I was afraid of that. If that was the result, I would not have been able to find words to write in this column today. To be frank with you, I had such worries.

However, I had judged that the two sides would reach compromise at the last minute. Around the 50th anniversary of normalization of Korea-Japan ties on June 22, Seoul’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se visited Japan for the first time and reached an agreement to resolve the issue through reciprocal compromise. At the 50th anniversary events held in Seoul and Tokyo, President Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister participated, respectively, creating friendly mood for the first time in years. If this issue gets deteriorated again despite such mood, and relations come to collapse, the leaders of the two countries will completely lose their face. It was believed that both sides would be too well aware of the risk arising from possible destruction of bilateral relations that showed signs of improvement after a long tunnel.

But then, after the compromise was reached, controversy of disagreement has erupted in the two countries, with critics claiming that “We won, No we lost. We were cheated, and it is a humiliation.” I think this is not the way it should be.

The key element of compromise lied in the fact that while the term “forced labor” that had been insisted by Korea is not used, Japan announced it would add the following expression in description of the heritage.

Many people from Joseon (Korea) were “brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions.”

Generally speaking, this expression would undoubtedly be a summarized description of ‘forced labor.’ In fact, the Seoul government promoted this as diplomatic achievement, saying that Japan admitted to forced labor, while the Korean media also welcomed. Critics in Japan also criticized that “Tokyo made too much concession,” and “It is a failure of Japan’s diplomacy.”

Meanwhile, the Japanese diplomatic authority emphasizes avoiding of the use of the term ‘forced labor.’ Since the Japanese authority sought to prevent the expression from spreading to trials over compensation to forced laborers and to political issues, it found an expression within the permissible scope. As a result, if Japan repeatedly explains that it was ‘not forced labor,’ then critics in Korea refute it, saying “Japan is now denying,” and “It was a failure in diplomacy.”

However, exchanging such offensives and responses repeatedly is futile at best. What is important is that lying under the shadow of glaring process of Japan’s modernization is sad sacrifice Joseon (Korean) people were forced to take and their contributions. It is undeniably true that while Japan admitted to this fact despite avoiding the term ‘forced labor,’ it accepted the fact and informed the world accordingly as well.

Facilities that have been registered as new World Heritage include “Hashima (Battleship Island),” an island of mining in Nagasaki. I once visited by boat this hotspot, known as ‘Island of destruction.’

A laborer from Joseon, who was forced to harsh working and living there, swam from the island to freedom by risking his life, but ended up dying due to nuclear bombing. When I read the novel entitled “Battleship Island” (original title “Crow”) by Korean novelist Han Soo-san, which describes this tragic story, I felt severe pain and sympathy in my heart.

It is true that many Japanese try to avoid such dark side of history, but novelist Han told me that he earned generous support and cooperation when he visited Japan to gather information to write the novel, and that a Japanese reader of his book sent him a letter that was very moving. It means that Japanese people are not completely turning a blind eye to past history.

In the wake of the registration of the new World Heritage, it is necessary that Japan knows dark side of its modernization. In order for this to happen, it is also necessary that Korea gives proper assessment of bright side of Japan’s modernization. The unfinished agenda that has been raised due to a rare bilateral compromise would be the need for mutual generosity of this nature.

By the way, I almost forgot but I also sincerely congratulate Korea on the registration of Baekje historic sites as a World Heritage from the bottom of my heart.

(Written by Yoshibumi Wakamiya, senior fellow of Japan Center for International Exchange and former chief editor of the Asahi Shimbun)