Japan should face history squarely

Kim Sok Bom, The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo

What a pleasant surprise. Although the announcement of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Pyongyang appeared sudden, it is the fruit of year-long negotiations behind the scenes. The process itself provides hope, to a certain extent, that the meeting will go well.

Koizumi's visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is significant not only because it will be the first one ever by a Japanese prime minister but also because he will be representing Japan with its prewar and postwar history heavily weighing on his shoulders when he meets with his North Korean counterpart. This is something that successive leaders of Japan, which occupies a corner of East Asia, have never been able to achieve. That is why Koizumi's name will go down in history as the man who made it happen and hope the meeting will be a success.

Koizumi's visit means that Japan is prepared to go back to a basic principle that it had long neglected.

At an Aug. 30 press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said: "After more than a half century after the war, Japan's relations with North Korea still remain abnormal. Normalization of diplomatic relations is a historic obligation of the government."

Meeting its "historical obligation" is the basic principle Japan must go back to. Although there were many factors that stood in the way of normalizing diplomatic relations with North Korea in postwar years, it is something that Japan should have achieved a long time ago. It is an important fundamental principle that has to do with Japan's settlement of the past and foreign policy.

This is not only limited to Japan's relations with "the North." If Japan shows morals and dignity that befit its true ability and presence, it can win the respect of the people of East Asia who were victims of Japan's aggression.

The Great Kanto Earthquake that claimed 140,000 lives hit Sept. 1, 1923. The date also brings to memory Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara's controversial comment about sangokujin that he made in April 2000. The term, which literally means "third- nation people," was used before and during World War II to refer to the people on the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan, which were under Japanese colonial rule and is considered derogatory.

At the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake, Korean residents were blamed for looting and rioting. That was a groundless rumor started by the Japanese military, which triggered the slaughtering of ethnic Koreans by Japanese civilians. Although it was taboo to mention it in prewar days, now it is a well-known fact that some 6,600 ethnic Koreans mostly in the Tokyo area were killed at the hands of the military, police and vigilantes.

However, neither the Japanese nor the Tokyo metropolitan government has ever officially commented on the fact. By no means is Japan the only country that tends to forget about its past. But perhaps because it was an aggressor, it appears that Japan's forgetfulness is particularly serious. I am not saying that the subject should be on the agenda of the Pyongyang meeting. Japan must show an attitude to squarely face historical facts.

The problem of suspected "abduction" of Japanese nationals should also be cleared and settled. But sticking to that problem alone does not advance the situation. What is needed is a comprehensive approach. Koizumi's visit is a sign of such stance.

Although there is no direct link between the "abduction" issue and the massacre of ethnic Koreans at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake, one case may lead to another in discussing settlement of the past. The fact that Japan did nothing to acknowledge that foreign residents were massacred on Japanese land in the eight decades since it happened is unforgivable and unbelievable.

Instead of going back to the starting point when Japan's postwar Constitution was enacted, the Koizumi administration is steering the nation in the direction of prewar Japan with such measures as the enactment of emergency legislation, attempts to regulate the freedom of the press with a personal information protection bill and visits to Yasukuni Shrine.

Why is Koizumi, who is going against the times, taking a forward step to visit North Korea? North Korea's situation, which has come to a deadlock, is showing signs of change. The Koizumi administration is said to be relying on foreign policy to stay afloat. That's fine so long as his visit to North Korea helps break the deadlock. The success of the summit between the two leaders will provide dynamics to move future North Korean policy in a positive direction.

I hope North Korea, too, will show a positive attitude.