"Grand Decision? Japan Perceives 'They Obey Well After Being Hit'"

Former Ambassador to Japan Kang Chang-il CBS Radio Interview
"Korea Does Not Know Japan Well... Increasingly Right-Wing"

Former Ambassador to Japan Kang Chang-il described Japan's approval of an elementary school textbook that downplays the coerciveness of forced labor and strengthens its territorial claims over Dokdo as "not a response but rather a stab in our back."

In an interview with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 29th, Kang referred to the government's third-party compensation approach to resolving forced labor reparations, pointing out that "the South Korean government made a mistake because it did not properly understand Japan."

He explained, "Japanese society is becoming increasingly right-wing. And the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Japan's ruling party, is also influenced by those forces," adding, "When we make a magnanimous and grand decision, they do not accept it that way. They perceive it as 'If you hit them, they listen well'."

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology held a textbook screening committee meeting on the 28th and announced that 149 types of textbooks to be used in elementary schools from 2024 have passed the review. Among them, some elementary school social studies textbooks have altered the description of Korean conscription during the Japanese colonial period to dilute the aspect of coercion. The photo shows a 6th-grade social studies textbook by Tokyo Shoseki, which changed the caption of the current photo labeled "Young Koreans who became soldiers" to "Young Koreans who volunteered to become soldiers." The top is the current textbook. Photo by Yonhap News.

He continued, "From Japan's perspective, they might think, 'If you harshly scold them, they listen well,'" and added, "We should have carefully analyzed such tendencies and devised countermeasures, but I think we underestimated Japan too easily."

However, Kang evaluated, "Since the government keeps making big concessions, I thought they would not take issue with the distorted textbook, but summoning the Japanese envoy yesterday was a good move." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Kumagai Naoki, the Charg? d'Affaires at the Embassy of Japan in South Korea, the day before to protest the distorted textbook.

Kang further stated, "This should not end here. If it ends as a one-time event, the relationship will continue to deteriorate." He then insisted that "the Yoon Suk-yeol administration should refine its stance and devise new measures," and argued that the Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio should be met to request the revival of the 'Neighboring Country Clause' to prevent historical distortion.