Moguro Fukuzou
The exact date of broadcasting this TV program is not known. Probably, Mr. An Byon-jik, Professor Emeritus of the Seoul University, appeared on a Korean TV program sometime in winter of 2006 and his statement was introduced in Japan the following year on this TV program with the above title. As I trust his opinion is worth listing to, I translate what the Japanese moderator said on the TV.
If you say something pro-Japan, you will promptly become a target of bashing in Korea. However, in that country, Mr. An Byon-jik, Professor Emeritus of the famed Seoul University appeared on TV and bravely declared, gAnti-Japan activities are meaningless.h
First, he expressed his opinion about Japanfs colonial rule of Korea, which may be viewed by some as gdefense of the colonial rule.h About the deprivation of the Korean farmland, he said gJapan transferred the land which only belonged to the Korean Imperial Family to the Governor-General of Korea. It appears that there was no outright plunder of the land.h
Then he expressed his opinion on the military comfort women, which is considered as angundeniable historical facth by many Korean people.
"I know some ex-comfort women state that they were forcibly mobilized to comfort stations. However, there is not a single piece of evidence either in Korea or Japan that objectively supports the statement that comfort women were mobilized by force."
When the moderator objected by saying, "Donft you think you are wrong to withhold the idea of the existence of forced mobilization just because there was no supporting evidence?" he declared,
"In Korea there are red-light districts where privately-run brothels are encroached. You can see many comfort women in Korea. You have to find out the reason why such phenomenon occurs. No such phenomenon occurs due to forced mobilization.
I initially thought the Imperial Army of Japan carried out forced mobilization and made a joint investigation with Teitaikyo (see below) on this issue but I stopped my involvement in the project after three years, because I realized that their purpose was not to find out the fundamental cause and nature of the comfort women and use the discovered results for prevention of encroachment of comfort women, but rather, simply to use this issue for a means to fight against Japan."
In response to the question of the moderator: gDonft you think Japan must apologize first if Korea and Japan need to have a good neighboring partnership?h the professor said,
gIt is useless for you to tirelessly investigate every detail of the past history in order to judge what was wrong and what was right. You often say 'Dokuto is ours' and 'Japanese politicians should not visit the Yasukuni Shrine' and so on and on, but such issues are insoluble for the two countries. Korea should stop bringing those non-agreeable issues endlessly on table just for bickering against Japan."
You may think his opinion must have invited hostility from the general public in a country where people are quick to bash pro-Japan opinions. However, a foreign correspondent in Seoul presented a different opinion such as follows.
gThere is no particular response from the media or the general public right now. Professor An is the director of a conservative organization which promotes the creation of a textbook which highly evaluates the performance of the late President Park Chung-hee. Professor An claims, gYes, President Park Chung-hee was a dictatorial president. There is no doubt about it. But you also have to recognize the fact that he accomplished the economic development of S. Korea.h In short, Professor An emphasizes the economic growth and from that standpoint criticizes the current President Roh Moo-hyeon, who takes anti-Japan political stance all the time. As the public rating of President Roh Moo-hyeon is all-time low, the opinion of Professor An is considered as one of such criticism thrown at the current President. Therefore, people are not particularly interested in or critical of the opinion of Professor An.h
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President Park Chung-hee as a Japanese Army Officer
The current President Park Geun-hye is his daughter. 
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| Korean President Rho Moo-hyeon
Feb., 2003 - Feb., 2008 |
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- (1) What is the Teitaikyo?
The Teitaikyo is the acronym of the Kanji-letter name of the Kankoku-Teishintai-Taisaku-Mondai-Kenkyu-kai.
The author surmises that this organization is gthe Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japanh which authored the book gComfort Womenh in English and also built the monument in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
The author believes this organization is part of the North Korean propaganda machine that grew in number under the President Rho Moo-hyeon, who continued the so-called "Sunshine Policy" toward North Korea all through his presidency.
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- (2) Pro-Japanese persons are traitors in Korea.
In Korea, a pro-Japanese person is equivalent to a "traitor." The exact reason of this mentarity is unknown to the author. The author awaits further study of specialists. Under the presidency of Roah Moo-kyeon, a list of traitors was created for retrospective prosecution of the people who contributed to the modernization of Korea during the Japan's Annexation Era. The list of traitors included many patriotic people such as the late President Park Chun-hee, the president of Toa Nippou Newspaper, the designer of the Korean national flag, and General Paik Sun-yup ("whity"), the most prominent general during the Korean War, much to the embarrassment of the Korean people.
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