Death, taxes, and forced sex with soldiers

Over at The Marmot's Hole there is an interesting discussion on Japan's culpability regarding the so-called Comfort Women sex slaves from World War II, in the wake of the Korean Constitutional Court saying that the South Korean government did wrong by the Comfort Women (and, by extension, others who were victims of Imperial Japan and did not receive compensation) by not divvying up the settlement money in 1965 and instead using it for economic development (it was the seed money for the Miracle on the Han). Although I don't think Tokyo doing an end run on paying compensation lets Japan off the hook ethically (or possibly even legally), I've long held that Seoul owes something to the Comfort Women and other forced laborers.

The conversation at TMH is interesting, with folks like Sonagi pulling up ads that are nearly completely in kanji/hantcha (Chinese characters) with hardly any Han•gŭl (Korean characters) at all. Others are talking about the nature and various forms some women were caught up in or duped into the Comfort Women positions back then.

And everybody's favorite Imperial Japan Apologist, Gerry Bevers, had this to say about various forms of slavery that may have been employed to obtain sex slaves on the Japanese front during World War II:

Bonded labor may be consided a form of slavery in many countries today, but in the 1940s it was obviously not considered such in Japan and Korea. You have to consider the times.

Today, some people may consider taxes a form of “bonded labor” because people are forced to pay them even without a signed contract. If you do not pay them, you can go to prison.

So, um, being forced to have sex with multiple soldiers every night for several years was merely a form of taxation in 1943? Okay, then.

Anyway, the order of the day was massacring civilians, torturing and killing people for experimental purposes, forced sexual servitude, and wholesale elimination of entire ethnic groups and other forms of genocide. So, going by Gerry's you-have-to-consider-the-times argument, all that's a-okay.

In response, Linkin' Lawyer Ben Wagner points out that Japan was a signatory on international agreements regarding what was euphemistically called "white slavery" back in those days, something to note when one "considers the times."

I'd also like to point out two things. First, like his arguments that Tokto (Takeshima) actually belongs to Japan, much of his case on Imperial Japan's near lack of culpability for anything bad that didn't really happen to Koreans (Japan's greatest ally!) rests on his speculation that such-and-such was what was really going on. In this case, he supposes (without evidence) that most of the Comfort Women were prostitutes and the true sex slaves were a very teensy-tiny percentage of the whole, if they exist at all.

The second thing is that using sex slavery in recent times — which has been a serious problem in South Korea — to suppose that "voluntary" prostitutes today means women were probably volunteering to be prostitutes back then, is quite disingenuous, and it gets bass-ackwards any cause and effect. What happened in the 1940s may have laid the groundwork for a whole new industry in Korea in the 1950s and beyond, but the existence of a systematic form of white slavery and prostitution in the late 20th and early 21st century had no effect on what happened in the 1940s.

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Blatant apologism

If you've read my posts discussing the infamous Imperial Japanese apologist Gerry Bevers (here, here, and I guess here or even here), then you would know that I find comments like this from Mr Bevers so gallingly ignorant:

DLBarch wrote:

I could not agree more. One of the perplexing dynamics within the expat communities in Japan and Korea is that expats in Japan seem to overwhelmingly be card-carrying apologists for the country and members in good standing in the Chrysanthemum Club, while expats in Korea seem to be card-carrying members of the “I’m-white-and-privileged-but-still-manage-to-bitch-and-complaint-about-every-little-f*cking-thing club.

The irony, of course, is that Japan has SO MUCH MORE to answer for historically, and yet has all but gotten a free ride on its disgraceful historical legacy.

The ones who got off easy after World War II were the Koreans, who were allied with the Japanese. The US and her allies allowed Koreans to play the victim as much as they did because they wanted to break up the Japanese Empire. However, no matter how Koreans may try to spin it, they did support the Japanese war effort.

The Japanese did not get a free ride, Mr. Barch. Millions of Japanese soldiers were killed, along with hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians.

The Japanese, the Chinese, the Russians, the Koreans, Australians, and Americans all committed war crimes, but it was only the Japanese and her allies who were convicted of them, and they were either executed or imprisoned. See HERE.

Japan lost all of its empire, and Japanese citizens in Korea and other places were forced to leave all of their proverty behind and return to Japan. On top of that, Japan paid a great deal in war reparations.

As for Korean comfort women, which we hear so much about, some may have been forced by Korean and Japanese pimps into the business, just as they are today, but most were probably just prostitutes looking to make an easy buck, just as they had done before and have done after.

I'm very busy this weekend, but when I have a chance, I'll write a response. Not from scratch mind you, but a collection of links, since this is old hash from Gerry that has been chased down by the antacid of truth and logic long ago.

I will acknowledge, though, that there were indeed Korean war criminals: they constituted some 1% of all the "Japanese" war criminals. There were also those who volunteered for military service, including Park Chunghee who later took over the country and was architect of its rise. But that does not negate that there were hundreds of thousands if not millions forced into hard labor, cruelty abounded, hundreds of thousands were killed at the hands of the Japanese or in Japanese military actions, hundreds of thousands of women were forced into sexual slavery, etc., etc.

And the idea that Korea — a country forcibly taken by Japan and then run with an iron fist by Japanese military leaders — could be described as a willing "ally" is just absurd.

If one has visited Yasukuni Shrine's Yushukan Museum (see here and here), it is striking how much Mr Bevers tale dovetails with that of Japan's right-wing apologists.

Oh, and DL Barch makes a valid point. In Korea, such people are called kvetchpats.

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Apology Set #3

As I noted here, a couple years ago I landed a very sweet gig that is based in Seoul but which I can do part-time online from Hawaii. I am working for the Korea Institute of Regrets and Apologies (KIRA). My job is to to read what English-speaking residents of Korea (ESReKs) are complaining about online and listen to what they're griping about in person, and then offering apologies or regrets where appropriate. My last apology set was quite some time ago, so we're well overdue.

We apologize that Korea doesn't look like a giant Minsokchon.

It used to be the opposite: everybody lived in quaint (some would say "backward") conditions and would go downtown to see the latest modern thing, usually from America, but now it's the opposite.

But I would implore you, rather than getting upset and feeling cheated that Korea is just another modern urbanscape, look at it as an homage to your country, wherever that is. The Korean people of the Rhee, Park, and Chun eras strived to have the trappings of modernity just like they saw in the movies. They wanted the things that you (or rather, people from your country besides you, but from your country) had invented so that they wouldn't have to go outside in the cold to tend the wood fire under the house, so they could conveniently get from point A to point B without walking, and not die from cholera. Sure, this isn't as photogenic and it has led to an increase in hamburger-induced diabetes and heart disease, but on balance, things are generally much better.

KIRA apologizes for anti-American protesters wearing Levi's, Nikes, and Old Navy. Yes, you're right, that's the height of hypocrisy (an ongoing theme we deal with daily at KIRA). They should either strip down or shut up.

KIRA apologizes that not every single person in South Korea shows effusive gratitude for the US military presence and says thank you to each and every American they see for intervention in the Korean War, including those whose families had nothing to do with the war and who might in fact be benefiting today from the on-going division of the peninsula.

Sure, we could go back to the days of Rhee, Park, and Chun, when kids were actually forced to write thank-you notes to GIs stationed in the Republic, but maturing democracy has sort of nixed that idea. In fact, that's why those darned protesters make all that noise. We would like to explain that they are exercising their right to free speech and they don't represent a majority, but even then, KIRA apologizes. We hope it doesn't hurt your pride.

KIRA apologizes that not everyone in Korea can understand you when you speak English. Frankly, since most Koreans have learned English through middle school and high school and the youngest Koreans have learned it since grade school, Koreans should speak English at least as well as non-Hispanic Caucasians speak Spanish in the United States, which is the fourth-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world.

Although one could argue that the percentage of people who can at least make basic conversation has gone up significantly in the past ten or fifteen years, there's no excuse for this one. Something needs to be done. I just hope it doesn't involve firing all the teachers we've got now. I'll go to bat for you guys if it looks like it's coming down to that.

In fact, KIRA apologizes for not every single document from every layer of government and corporation being in English. It's the international language, so what gives? Heads have got to roll on this one.

KIRA also apologizes for awkward-sounding English. Sure, it's not like anyone gets these things tatooed permanently on their bodies, but still, it's on a shirt, and that lasts for a long time.

KIRA apologizes for nationalism. Nationalism in Korea must scare the crap out of everyone. I mean, South Korea and the unified Korea which preceded it haven't invaded anybody for centuries, and that means it's just a matter of time before someone in the Blue House decides to go after, I don't know, Mongolia? We could take out their navy before lunch if we put our minds to it. Oh, and I personally apologize for this kind of talk.

KIRA apologizes for every parent who didn't want you dating their child. We could offer the excuse that they fear their daughter or son will marry you and then move thousands of miles away, they won't be able to communicate with their son/daughter-in-law or their grandchildren, or they just have a sneaking suspicion you're a pothead, but we all know the real reason is racism. Whitey just can't get a break from the ajumma brigade.

KIRA apologizes for K-pop. Sure, Koreans and most Asians may like watching attractive Korean males and females dance around and sing to saccarine lyrics and sappy tunes, but they really shouldn't because it just offends the ESReKs so.

And finally, KIRA apologizes for whatever else is annoying you today.

Lie Another Day

Selig Harrison sounds so much like a "Juche apologist" that frequent One Free Korea commenter david woolley wonders aloud if SH is not a pseudonym for KJI:

Why is there no wikipedia entry for Selig Harrison? Is it because the no-vilification rules are unavoidable — or is he, in fact, a figment, a convenient name for an editorial actually penned by Kim Jong Il, much as Stalin wrote for Pravda under a pseudonym? Inquiring minds and all that.

While Mr Harrison is clearly some kind of nom, I don't think he's a nom de plume. If you follow this link to where I've skewered him in the past, you'll find a video of him on PBS's Newshour. There is a real person behind Dr Evil's advocate.

But hold the phone... Wasn't there a James Bond movie where the villain used extensive plastic surgery to change his appearance from Asian to a nordic European? (Indeed, it would appear the streets of Seoul and Tokyo are full of such villains.) And wasn't that villain a... wait for it... North Korean?!

Maybe Mr Woolley and I are onto something. But would this grand ruse require the kidnaping of a Kangnam-area plastic surgeon? No, not with the advent of the hyper-realistic SPFX masks, those that are so convincing that a Polish immigrant had bank employees certain that he was a Black man as he robbed them.

In fact, an "elder" mask was recently used by a Chinese immigrant to get into Canada to seek asylum (it's in the same link above). And that means we must ask the inevitable: Could Selig Harrison be a North Korean operative with good English skills using a specially made "old man mask" to more effectively spread pro-Pyongyang propaganda?

I don't know about you, but now I'm convinced there's no other explanation.

UPDATE:
I forgot, no mention of a James Bond movie is complete unless I include a picture of one of the hotties. And while thoughts of Halle Berry are always enough to warm me up at Christmastime, Die Another Day included one of my all-time favorite Bond girls from the same movie, Miranda Frost (played by Rosamund Pike).

UPDATE 2:
Jack Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute, has an article in the January 5 edition of the Korea Herald which also skewers Mr Harrison's proposal for the US to give South Korean territorial waters to North Korea.

Things Obama should see in Korea

Over at ROK Drop, a frequent commenter named ChickenHead (don't even want to know why) has come up with a list of things that President Barack Hussein Obama should see, largely as an inspiration for how to change America based on what works in South Korea. It's an interesting list, and while I think it highlights some nice things about South Korea that expats and Koreans alike tend to take for granted, I think a bit of it calls for qualification.

The list comes right after the JUMP (and bear with me, because this is the first time I'm ever using "the jump").