Anti-Japanese Nationalism Sours Korean Efforts to Donate Relief to Japanese Tsunami Victims

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    After the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, there was great sympathy in South Korea for the plight of Japanese victims. Millions of dollars were donated by ordinary citizens and celebrities, and the the government sent search and rescue teams to Japan.

    Optimists said it was a new sign of improved relations between Japan and Korea. However, it only took a few weeks for anti-Japanese nationalism to fuel protests and retractions of charity donations.

    What happened?

    At the end of March, a Japanese government screening panel approved a textbook that mentioned Japan’s territorial claim on the Liancourt Rocks. It should not have been unexpected, as the Japanese government has been approving similar textbooks for years now.

    The Japanese government’s territorial claim to the rocks has not changed in the past 100 years. For some reason, Korean nationalists go into a rage whenever the continued and unchanged existence of Japan’s territorial claim is mentioned. The routine printing of Japanese government white papers or routine approval of new editions of textbooks are seen as Japanese attempts to “re-assert” its claim and “escalate” the dispute.

    One poor nationalist go so worked up that he almost cut off his finger:

    The 47-year-old identified only by his surname Choi shouted ‘Japanese ambassador apologise!’ outside the Japanese embassy, with his left little finger almost severed, an officer told AFP.

    He threatened to commit suicide and pointed a knife at his jugular. Police took him to a nearby hospital.

    More from Reuters:

    “It is heart-wrenching that Koreans with a big heart wanted to donate money for Japan, which keeps insisting on its sovereignty of the islands that are undeniably ours,” said Yeo Mi-ok, a 51-year-old art teacher staging a display of children’s drawings of the islets at a busy Seoul subway station.

    A Seoul district office that raised about $10,000 for Japanese disaster relief changed its mind and sent most of the funds to a civic group promoting Korea’s claims to the islets, which are also a symbol of South Korea standing up to its neighbour.

    “I asked myself, why did Japan do this at this tragic moment. We had to discuss what to do next with this fund,” said Ra Tae-sung, an official at the office in southwestern Seoul.

    The LA Times also reported about the issue, framing events in a manner that put much of the blame on Japan:

    …ties recently appeared to be improving. Trade has boomed. Movies, music and other forms of pop culture that were once restricted have flowed more freely between the two sides.

    Last summer, Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, had offered an apology for Japan’s brutal colonial rule and promised to return books and art to South Korea. The two nations have also discussed signing a defense pact in the midst of rising threats from North Korea.

    So when the March 11 earthquake struck, Koreans reached out.

    Then came a pair of thunderbolts out of Tokyo: On April 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released its Diplomatic Bluebook 2011 detailing developments in Japan’s foreign relations — a release that came just two days after the central government approved new school textbook content. Both reiterated Japan’s claims to the disputed Dokdo/Takeshima islands.

    South Koreans were stunned at the bad timing. Rather than a conciliatory gesture, or an effort at a new dialogue, the abusive spouse of long-held memory seemed back to its old ways.

    The same LA Times article contains this odd passage:

    The two countries seem to have fallen back into old habits — like a couple in an abusive relationship where one has lorded over the other. They’ve gone to counseling, tried all the couples therapies. And just when one spouse is about to forgive the other, another unforgivable event comes to pass. Once again, signals are misread, and the relationship is back at a dysfunctional impasse.

    A very strange thing to write, as they clearly have not gone to counseling over this issue. Since the 1950′s, Japan has repeatedly requested that the territorial dispute be referred to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and the South Korean government has refused all such requests.

    Reporters for both Reuters and the LA Times seem to be unaware of the very serious steps the South Korean government has taken recently, steps that will worsen the situation far more than a textbook:

    Construction of the research station, which will resemble the above-pictured facility, may start by the end of this month.

    In response to the Korean escalations, a few nationalist lawmakers in Japan’s opposition party have proposed that “Takeshima Day” be turned into an official holiday.

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