Pearl Harbor facts

Many people still seem to see the Pearl Harbor attack as the symbol of Japanese evilness. But do they know why Japan attacked PH?

People tend to think that Pearl Harbor was a "sneak attack" by imperialistic Japan and the US justifiably fought evil Japan. But President Roosevelt knew it and let Japan attack first so that the US could join the war in Europe and beat Japan which was trying to counter Western invasion into Asia (remember most countries around the world were colonized by the West back then. In Asia, only Korea, Japan and Thailand were left uncolonized. Even parts of China were taken by Britain, France, Germany, Russia, etc).

McCollum memo on 1940.10.07 to Roosevelt (one year before Pearl Harbor) indicated 8 actions to corner Japan, including complete trade embargo with Japan, and concluded, "If by these means Japan could be led to commit an overt act of war, so much the better. At all events we must be fully prepared to accept the threat of war".

http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/McCollum/index.html

America (A), British (B), China (C), Dutch (D), or ABCD encirclement closed Straight of Malacca, and stopped minerals and oil from being shipped to Japan. In addition, the US imposed complete ban on oil, despite desperate diplomatic efforts by Japan. Japan imported oil mostly from the US, and with the ban, only 2 years reserve was left. This was a matter of life or death for Japan - waiting meant losing the nation without fighting. Having realized these facts, General MacArthur testified in the US Senate later in 1951, "They (Japan) feared that if those supplies were cut off, there would be 10-12 million people unoccupied in Japan. Their purpose, therefore, in going to war was largely dictated by security".

Henry Stimson, then US secretary of State, in his diary stated that the issue was "how we should maneuver them (Japanese) into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves".

People tend to think that Japan went into the war for the purpose of invading Asia, in the spirit of imperialism and expansionism, but this is naive. They need to think what kind of world it was back then, and why Japan decided to go into the war against the US, a super power that had 80 times more resources than Japan did.

Read more in the Pearl Harbor Deception 
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/pearl_harbor.htm

See BBC documentary "Sacrifice at Pearl Harbor"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p1TOA99S88

Falling Kono Statement - culprit of the comfort women myth

As you may know, Kono statement of 1993 is regarded as the evidence, and the official affirmation, that Japan committed the atrocity of making massive number of women as sex slaves. 

I do not blame those who believe in this – it is totally the fault of the Japanese government who has been silent, irresponsible, and coward in not stating known facts on the sensitive issue. But one should know what Kono statement really is and how it came about.

[The following is the rough English translation of the Sankei scoop on this]

The Kono statement was made based on the 5-day hearing investigation of 16 former so-called comfort women in 1993; however, the interview report was long undisclosed. 

On October 15, 2013, Sankei Shimbun finally obtained the interview report. In the report, the factual information was obscure, and different from what the women said in other occasions. Some names and date of birth were inaccurate. Although proper family registration system existed in the Korean peninsula at the time, only 8 comfort women indicated their date of birth, while 6 left it blank. 13 women left their hometown “unknown” though in Korea, the hometown is an important indication for an individual.

Some names indicated only family name, or were insufficiently written, without proper Kanji. Furthermore, some women testified that they worked in Osaka, Kumamoto, and Taiwan, i.e. non battle zones where comfort stations did not exist, though ordinary brothels existed. 5 comfort women who sued the Japanese government in 1991 were included as interviewees, but their testimonies differed from what they said in other occasions.

Before this interview took place, then Korean Professor Ahn Byung-jik of Seoul National University and his group conducted hearing investigation with 40 comfort women in 1992. The group met and interviewed the women 5-6 times, and stated in its report that “the cases that presented the most serious problems to the researchers were those in which the witnesses seemed to be intentionally distorting the facts”, and thus adopted only 19 of them in the report.

pp.36-43 is relevant to Prof. Anh's research --> http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/39_S4.pdf

It is highly probable that the hearing investigation of the government included those who were dismissed in the Korean investigation, but the government has not done any cross-checking or confirmation.

Former Deputy Cabinet Secretary Ishihara Nobuo, who was involved in the making of the Kono statement, was interviewed by Sankei, and said:

 “I did not look at the report, and I made judgment based on the briefing by the officer in charge. However, if the content of the interview report, which was the foundation of the Kono statement, is sloppy and lacks credibility, then it is a grave problem. The Korean government selected the 16 comfort women, thus the trust would be shaken.”

Kono Statement: In August 1993, then Cabinet Secretary Kono Yohei, under Miyazawa Kiichi administration, expressed remorse and apology for former comfort women. Despite the fact that no government record was found, in and outside Japan, to prove abduction of women in recruitment, the statement confirmed forced recruitment, indicating that "in many cases they were recruited against their own will, through coaxing coercion, etc., and that, at times, administrative/military personnel directly took part in the recruitments." There is no cabinet approval for the statement.

 

Click here for Sankei scoop on Oct 16, 2013, in Japanese 

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The Korean government opposes to re-examination of the process of how the investigation with the comfort women was done for making the Kono statement. If there is nothing to hide, they should be glad to re-examine the process to prove their credibility.
 

Korean sex industry going global

The fight on comfort women issue is getting heated. Koreans keep spreading lies around the world, and informed Japanese are standing up to counter the lies with historical evidence. It is high time that people see the facts about the issue. In fact, people should see not only the facts back then, but also the reality on Korean sex industry today, and think about the issue in entirety.
 
I translate below an article by Otaka Miki, published on August 18, 2013 on ZakZak (Sankei digital inc.), which gives you details and excellent insights on this.

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Appalling reality of Korean “sex-industry export”: 100,000 Korean prostitutes around the world 

The reality of South Korea as “the big sex-industry exporting country” is attracting attention. Korean media reports that there are 100,000 Korean prostitutes around the world, and they represent the highest percentage of foreign prostitutes in the United States. Korean President Park Geun Hye criticizes Japan that “Japan should have courage to look straight into the past,” and “Japan should take responsible and sincere measures”; yet, it is Korea that should review the history and the reality.

In July 2013, a statue of comfort woman was installed in city of Glendale, California. This was backed up by Korean groups in the U.S., and the groups have a plan to install the same in over 20 cities across the country. The nationalistic passion to fabricate history and disgrace another country is itself a theme in the field of psychiatric medicine, and it would be too kind to see it as “rancor against 36 years of Japanese administration”. 

An article that greatly helps one understand the comfort women issue was published in Chosun Ilbo (Korean newspaper) on June 15, 2012: “Expanding Korean-style sex industry: the reality overseas” – “The shameful reality of Korea as the great sex-industry exporting country”. The content of the article was appalling. 

First of all, the article says: “With regard to Korean prostitutes abroad, national assembly member Kim Ok Lee, during the assembly audit on the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in October 2010, asserted that `the numbers of Korean women who engage in prostitution overseas are approximately 50,000 in Japan, 2,500 in Australia, and 250 in Guam, reaching over 100,000 globally.’”

The article analyzes that one of the reasons for overseas prostitution is money: “10 Korean prostitutes captured by police at a brothel in Canada in May 2012 said ‘We came here because we heard that we could earn a lot in a short time’. A 36-year old female manager of the brothel always told the prostitutes that they could earn 20 million won (about US$ 18,700) in one month.” 

The article also shows the ratio of foreign prostitutes in the U.S., and the top three are Korean 23.5%, Thai 11.7%, and Peruvian 10%. Since the domestic prostitution prohibition law was strengthened in Korea in 2004, and traveling to the U.S. without visa was allowed in 2008, Korean prostitutes have flown out at once. 

On the other hand, in Korea, several hundreds of prostitutes in white shroud with their faces painted white demonstrated on the street, shouting “let us work!”, which was broadcasted over internet to the world. 

They claim at the constitutional court, “we are sex workers, and workers have the right to work. It is against the constitution that a law intervenes in private acts of adult men and women”, and deliberation is ongoing at the court. 

According to the survey done by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2007, the size of adult-entertaining industry in Korea is estimated to be about 14.1 trillion won (approx. US$ 13.2 billion), and there are about 270,000 women working in sex-related business. This is equivalent to approximately 6% of the national budget of the year (239 trillion won, or US$ 223 billion), according to the Chosun Ilbo. 

There are so many Korean women who want to work in the sex industry even today (when prostitution is illegal). Thinking calmly, anybody would see that there was no need to use a rough measure to “forcefully take away” women 70 years ago when prostitution was legal. Weren’t comfort women commercial sex workers in wartime? 

Today, in China near the border with North Korea, there are tens of thousands of North Korean female defectors who are sold by Chinese dealers to prostitution businesses or poor farmhouses, and are forced into “sexual slavery.” Yet, we never hear about “rancor against 1000 years of dependency on China and tribute of beautiful women.” (note: Korea had been a tributary state to China most of the time in its history, and had been paying tribute to China including women).   

When South Korea took part in the Vietnam War, the number of Lai Dai Han, or children born to Korean soldiers and Vietnamese women, was estimated to be 10,000 – 30,000. They are severely discriminated against as “children of enemy”; however, Korean government has not taken any measures. Instead of promoting anti-Japan propaganda, wouldn’t solving this problem be far more humanitarian? 

Sam Keen, former editor of US bimonthly magazine “Psychology Today”, states in his book “Faces of the Enemy” as follows: “by forcing on others all the characteristics that one has inside and does not want to admit, s/he reduces anxiety and guilt.”

Anyhow, Korea enthuses to install comfort women statues in other countries besides the United States. Before that, why not add a plaque to the statue with the following explanation? :

“This is to attest the Korean government that has been blaming another country for its deteriorated culture, and the sad history of the Korean peninsula where women have been sold since the ancient times.”    
    
(Otaka Miki is a journalist who have interviewed many renowned persons including Dalai Lama and 14^th and former PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, and have published several books).

Japanese and Koreans: we fought together in the war

I received the following comment on the previous posting "Japanese war crimes: I'm sorry? by Adrian Salbuchi" (thanks a lot for commenting). I felt that it was again somehow based on the common misunderstanding on "what Japan did to Korea", to which I wanted to clarify a few issues in response. I of course cannot comment anything on individual experiences, but would like to describe the overall picture.

Comment received: 

"To rest of the world, those in shrine are war criminals because Japan lost the World War II. But to many Koreans, they are war criminals because they killed their own grand parents, destroyed life of many and tried to deny existence of Koreans by destroying their cultural and historical elements. Talk to any Koreans if you know any. Ask them if they think they have won World War II against Japan. I can assure you none of them will say yes. To Koreans, it is not about whether they have won the war or not. I have Korean grandmother who passed away last year at age 98. I remember hearing from her about what Japanese did to Koreans. To many Koreans, what Abe Shinzo did is equivalent of Angela Merkel putting flowers in Adolf Hitler's grave. Regardless of how many times the apologies were given in the past, it's going to hurt many Koreans and the reaction of Koreans are only natural."

Japanese and Koreans fought together against the allies in the WWII, because Korea had been annexed by Japan since 1910 and Koreans were treated as Japanese. Unlike the West who only exploited people and resources in their colonies, Japan developed Korea and improved the welfare of people dramatically. These advancements occurred in all spheres including education, health, economy, safety, judicial system, infrastructure and local administration, benefits of which were enjoyed by Koreans both in urban and rural areas. Keijo (Seoul) became more modern than Tokyo, which itself is an incredible fact. Up to the annexation, due to the misrule of the Yi Dynasty, general people in Korea were extremely poor, subject to exploitation and mistreatment in the authoritarian system, with no proper basic services. This is clearly documented by a British scholar Alleyne Ireland, the then authority on colonial administration, who analyzed the Japanese administration in Korea and published “The New Korea” in 1926 after 3 years of field research (available at Amazon.co.jp).

You mention that Japanese destroyed Korean culture, but it was the Yi Dynasty who destroyed the good of Korea and made Korean people suffer. Alleyne writes as follows:

“I met many Japanese who were eager to enlarge upon the admirable features of the early Korean culture and to express their appreciation of the contribution which Koreans had made to the art, religion, and philosophy of Japan itself, in the centuries preceding the accession of the Yi Dynasty, which after more than five hundred years of misrule had reduced the Korean people to a cultural and economic condition deplorable in the extreme, and which came to an end when Japan annexed the country in 1910” (p.72-73).

You should also know that Koreans wanted to fight together with Japanese against the allies during the WWII. Some Koreans played active part in the Japanese army as senior military officers, such as 洪思翊, 金錫源, and 朴正熙 (Park Chung-hee, subsequent President of Korea and the father of the current Korean President Park Geun-hye 朴槿惠). Stimulated by their bravery and success, over 300,000 young Koreans voluntarily responded to the call for voluntary services with the Japanese army in 1943, which only had 6,300 seats. Several hundreds of them wrote their plea in their blood, which surprised the Government-General of Japan in Seoul. This fact proves that Japanese administration in Korea was going extremely well and it gained trust of Koreans. Korean soldiers who fought along with the Japanese army totaled 240,000, out of which 21,000 died on the battleground and are enshrined at Yasukuni. Japanese soldiers who died in the WWII were 2,300,000 in total.

Unfortunately, none of these facts are taught in Korea due to extreme anti-Japanese education that it has been promoting for the past decades. This only creates hatred among Koreans, makes them blind, depriving them of facing their own history. Koreans should realize that Japanese Prime Minister visiting  Yasukuni has nothing to hurt their feelings. Japanese and Koreans stood up and fought together to defend the united countries from the dominant White supremacy back then. It was a difficult choice for Korea, but all things considered, the annexation played a critical role in the history of Korea and its people for better.