Korean Opposition Claims ROK Navy Training with Japan Will Lead to Recolonization of the Peninsula
This line of attack was so predictable from the Korean left:
Nothing is wrong with holding joint military exercises with Japan to cope with the common threat of North Korea, a presidential spokesperson said Tuesday, rejecting opposition criticism that such drills could lead to the stationing of Japanese troops in South Korea.
Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, has been voicing such concerns while denouncing trilateral naval exercises, which South Korea held with the United States and Japan in the East Sea last week, as a move legitimizing Japan’s Self-Defense Forces as a regular military.
His point was that such exercises would help advance Japan’s ambitions to become a normal country capable of waging war and South Korea could fall victim to Japan’s renewed militarism and face a fate similar to the 1910-45 colonial rule.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but in a war with North Korea, the ROK is going to need Japanese support so it is best to train for it now. The Korean left seems more concerned about Japan taking over Korea than the Kim regime or China. This argument would be like NATO countries saying they cannot train with Germany because then they would be taken over again by a rising Germany. This argument is stupid just like the Korean left’s argument about Japan.
Cynically they know their argument is flimsy and without merit, but they are just trying to tap into deep rooted anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea to further erode President Yoon’s poll numbers.
Whatever they’re smoking must be pretty toxic. Like the Chinabot on the open thread who advocates becoming a vassal to China again.
After all, it’s been so good for North Korea!
Or maybe, because South Korea put all their eggs in one basket, the folks who need chips should investigate other sources like Taiwan, who does a better job than Red China anyway.
Need an exercise to cope with the common threat of Red China.
Traditonally, the Korean right was pro-Japan, because during the founding of the Korean Republic, its rank and file were filled with Koreans who collaborated with and profited from the Japanese. These guys were also anti-Communist which made them attractive to the US Occupation authorities, which needed anti-Communist personnel to help them administer the southern part of the peninsula.
Considering the above, it was natural for the Korean left to adopt an anti-Japan stance, becaude they can’t be seen as having the same thoughts and idealogies of the Korean right.
Those thoughts were kept in check even when prominent leftists such as Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun were in power. (During the aforementioned two presidencies, no one complained about Japanese warships flying the Japanese Naval Ensign(the one with the rising sun with rays) when they docked in Korean ports, unlike now.)
But, all that changed when Moon Jae-in released the genie out of the bottle.
And from the looks of Lee Jae-myung’s recent statement it will be very hard for the DPK to put that back into the bottle.
However mention should be given to Lee MB’s highly publicized visit to Dokdo during the last months of his presidency.
This is considered as the start and cause of the worsening of relations between Korea and Japan to the point that the late PM Abe even mentioned as the cause during a Q&A session in the Japanese Diet.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/japanese-journal-of-political-science/article/it-takes-two-to-tango-the-difficult-japansouth-korea-relations-as-clash-of-realities/D0F03A5A02638A6FF410C8674B5A07DF
Although traditionally pro-Japan, even the Korean right cannot escape from anti-Japanese feelings.
@TOK, yes you are correct on Lee and I called him out on this years ago. He flew to Dokdo to temper criticism of the intelligence sharing deal he had to cancel with Japan. So even the Korean right knows when to play the anti-Japan card if needed.
… intelligence sharing deal with Japan …
Will be interesting to see how Yoon handles this issue given that he is a former prosecutor.
Note that Lee MB was still PROK (President of the Republic of Korea) in January 2013.
Chronology of extradition decision for Chinese arson suspect
January 03, 2013
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) — A Seoul court decided on Thursday not to extradite Liu Qiang, the 38-year-old Chinese man, to Japan to be prosecuted for an arson attack at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, court officials here said.
The following is a chronology of major events leading up to the court ruling.
2011
Dec. 26: Liu hurled Molotov cocktails at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, after which he fled to South Korea.
2012
Jan. 8: Liu threw Molotov cocktails at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, and was arrested at the scene. During interrogation by South Korean police, he confessed to the arson attack in Tokyo.
Jan. 10: The Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant against Liu.
May 21: The Japanese government formally asked Seoul through a diplomatic channel to hand him over for trial upon completing his sentence.
May 23: The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Liu to 10 months behind bar. He lodged an appeal.
Aug. 23: The Seoul High Court upheld the lower court’s ruling.
Oct. 16: Hong Lei, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry publicly requested that Liu be sent to China.
Nov. 2: South Korea’s Justice Ministry filed for an extradition court ruling for Liu.
Nov. 5: A local court issued a warrant to detain Liu pending an extradition trial.
Nov. 6: Liu completed his 10-month prison term.
2013
Jan. 3: The Seoul High Court decided not to send him to Japan.
graceoh@yna.co.kr
Chronology of extradition decision for Chinese arson suspect | Yonhap News Agency (yna.co.kr)