Grandfather, how many Japanese imperialists did you kill?

The Hanky came out with an editorial on Monday in support of expanding the planned hunt for information about those Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese occupation. Here is a sample:

In discussing historical crimes, it is often claimed that there should be "historical reconciliation." But we have to stress that true reconciliation requires there first be a full clarification of the crimes. We should also remember that the crimes involved did not end with the end of Japanese rule. Most of those who collaborated with the Japanese exerted their power even after liberation, with "experience and expertise" as their weapons. That historical experience reminds you of just how urgent and important it is to have a thorough settling of the matter, and it's also why there should be no special consideration of a person's position in the truth-finding project. There can be no historical reconciliation and forgiveness without clarification of what transpired.

If I remember correctly, the original legislation called for investigations into anyone rank Colonel or above. Member of Our Open Party (OOP) and the Hanky would like to see it expanded to lower-level people who worked for the Japanese. This is probably an effort to expand the dragnet to include figures such as Park Jung-hee, the late dictator and father of Grand National Party head, Park Guen-hye. But are they really serious about expanding the investigation to low-level collaborators? If so, then they will have a lot of work on their hands:

(S)tudies by people such as Atul Kohli of Princeton University indicate that the application rate for the police force was 20 Koreans for each vacancy, since such positions with the new authority were much sought after and prized in the colonized country.

Indeed, if you define collaboration as cooperation with the Japanese imperial authorities, then the bulk of the Korean population consisted of collaborators.

-If a Korean worked for the Imperial government, he was a collaborator.
-If a worker volunteered to work in a Japanese-built factory, he was a collaborator.
-If a farmer sold rice (or his daughter) to the Japanese, he was a collaborator.

While public reaction to the reports, when they come out, will fixate on the big names such as future government officials and military officers, this is just a case of people collaborating according to their means. After all, a newspaper publisher who prints papers in the service of the emperor is not giving any more, relative to his ability to serve, than a factory worker or a local imperial policeman. He may have had even less choice in the matter since Japanese authorities would certainly keep a closer eye on those in more prominent positions.

While this looks to me to be a witch-hunt to try to humiliate some prominent Korean families, it may have unintended consequences (same link as previous):

A civic group called the Korean Issues Research Center is ready to name names this summer and expose those it says were complicit with the Japanese. It claims it has wide popular support, saying it has independently raised $500,000 for the project. The group's tone and mission suggest a vendetta, but it is possible that making public more information about the past may promote the thoughtful re-evaluation of history and help shape a more positive future. This could mean better relations with Japan and other countries in the region, and better chances of conflict resolution.

The implication of many families, including some very powerful and prominent figures in contemporary Korean society, seems likely. Punishment appears out of the question, but public humiliation could be severe.

The scope and the sheer numbers of those involved might prompt South Korea to take another, more balanced and objective look at its recent history and its place in the region.

So, if this project is going to be truly comprehensive, I suspect that there will be a lot of people who will not like what they see.

Further reading:
While researching for this post, I came across an interesting article at the Association for Asia Research on the right-left conflict among anti-Japanese Korean fighters. It included these money shots:

The Communists split into several factions and fought amongst themselves. Likewise, the anti-Communists split into numerous factions. Korean Communists killed anti-Communist Koreans and Japanese collaborators. Anti-Communist Koreans killed Communists and Japanese collaborators. Japanese collaborators killed both Korean Communists and anti-Communist Koreans.

And:

The Koreans in China fell into three main groups: Communists, anti-Communists, and pro-Japanese. The last group was by far the largest at more than 90% of the Korean population.

Comments

[Kevin Kim]

I'm surprised this post hasn't garnered a bunch of comments yet. In France, the slang term "collabo" still raises hackles in many circles because of the mythology surrounding La Résistance. There was a French Resistance, of course, but it wasn't nearly as big as the French have made it out to be-- not by my unprofessional reckoning, anyway.

Kevin

[scott]

Great post. Mayhaps I'm getting paranoid, but I suspect the majority of the people who will be "outed" will be conservatives? It sounds to me like another step towards swinging Korea even more to the left.

[mark]

Didn't the Truth Commission in South Africa work fairly well at exploring what happened in a terrible period of history without getting hung up on "getting" people or political vendettas? Anyone on the left or right who cared in the least about honesty (as opposed to "face" or scoring political points) would suggest something similar.

Remember the old John Zenger trial, in 1735 New York City. Zenger was on trial for seditious liable for articles he had printed in his "Weekly Journal." His defense was that he had only printed the truth. To which the attorney general responded:
"For supposing they were true, the law says that are not the less libelous for that.  Nay, indeed the law says their being true is an aggravation of the crime."

I would argue that Korean society still is in a similar place, where truth takes a back seat to reputation. Until truth can be seen as an objective thing, separate from politics and "face," Koreans will never really be able to known their own history.

[The Yangban]

Kevin,
My hits are way down this week. I suspect that nobody is commenting because not many people have read it.

Scott,
I also think that most of the folks fingered will be 'conservative' in the non-ideological sense of the word since people in senior positions in the occupation were able to old on to many of them after independence.

Mark,
I don't know the details of the Truth Commission.

My main point in this piece is that if those who are running this investigation are serious about moving it beyond the top leaders and if they are actually looking for truth rather than a stick to bash some people over the head with, there are many people who will not like what they see.

I have a feeling that the listing of collaborators will not be as comprehensive as some claim it will be because there were just too many people doing it. So we may be left with a selective list that will just be used as a political hatchet.