Japan’s perennial self-hypnosis on heritage

YOO JEE-HYE
The author is the head of the diplomatic and security news department at the JoongAng Ilbo.

It is often said that diplomacy is an art of 51 vs. 49. Since one side’s unilateral concession is unlikely in a diplomatic negotiation and relationships must continue in the future, both sides often leave the negotiation table declaring a “51 percent” success, regardless of the truth.

In the Korea-Japan talks before Hashima was listed as a Unesco World Heritage site in 2015, Japan claimed it won a 51-percent success. After the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos), an advisory group for the Unesco, recommended Japan to record the “entire history” of the Battleship Island, Tokyo’s scheme to omit the shameful period of forced labor failed. But Japan still succeeded in the registration.

As a precondition for the registration, Japan had to make its first public acknowledgement of the fact that many Koreans were “forced to work” in harsh conditions against their will. While it was a huge diplomatic failure, it seemed that Japan wanted to bury it and officially call it a 49-percent loss.

Japan is free to be delusional. But the country seems to be self-hypnotized to think its motive was really buried, as it used the same trick to register the Sado mine located on the Sado island in the Niigata Prefecture. Japan once again attempted to skip the history of forced labor and received the same advice from Icomos when it applied to register the mine to the Unesco World Heritage list.

In a sense, the “nature of the crime” has gotten worse. Japan is trying to use President Yoon Suk Yeol, who built trust with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, to allow third-party compensation for forced labor. On May 11, the Sankei Shimbun reported that signs of change were detected within the Yoon administration, which is eager to improve relations with Japan.

The paper said that Kishida can hardly make concessions because he is cornered domestically. But President Yoon is in no better position. His approval rating did not rise over the low 30 percent range even after he promoted oil reserves in the East Sea. Aside from the approval rating, Yoon should know that he will only be left with the memory of a bromance with Kishida if he turns a blind eye to Japan’s attempt to distort history.

In diplomacy, the power of precedents is strong. In other words, the discussion on the registration of the Sado mine should start with the acknowledgement of the fact that “Koreans were forced to work,” as confirmed in the case of the registration of the Battleship Island. Furthermore, Tokyo did not keep its promise of honoring the victims of forced labor when Hashima became a Unesco World Heritage site. It is only natural that Koreans want a 100 to 0 victory in this diplomatic war, as Koreans have no reason to concede.