Specter of militarist Japan

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has launched the process of constitutional amendment by setting the outline of a new basic law. It says its final draft will be ready by November next year.

For a starter, the party aims to bolster Japan's national identity by seeking to change the status of the emperor from a mere symbol of Japan to head of state. It is also moving to adopt the Kimigayo, an ode to the emperor, as the national anthem and the Rising Sun as the national flag.

Korea and other victims of Japan's imperialism cannot be blamed if they wince at the party's attempt to boost the national identity in this manner. What the emperor, the national anthem and the national flag conjure up for them is the wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese imperialists before and during World War Two.

Of greater concern to Japan's neighboring countries, however, is the party's move to change the status of the Self-Defense Forces and to restore Japan's right to use military power abroad by rewriting its pacifist constitution.

Japan will do well to win the confidence of its neighbors, who suspect it of reviving militarism, before seeking to promote regional peace, as it claims, by making international contributions. Moreover, it will be able to contribute more to regional peace by using its economic rather than military power.

-- The Korea Herald, Seoul