Asian rivals in US

Washington should be more active judge, arbiter

Many Koreans might have felt quite uncomfortable listening to a series of news stories from the United States over the weekend.

In New York and New Jersey, some Japanese ultra-rightists ― who else could it be? ― perpetrated acts of vandalism, insulting the victims of the Japanese military’s sex slavery during World War II as well as reiterating Japan’s sovereignty over Dokdo. In Washington, D.C., Congress will soon release a report containing China’s historical claims that Korea’s ancient kingdom of Goguryeo was a provincial state of the Tang Dynasty.

It was as if historical and territorial issues among the three Northeast Asian countries moved their arenas of conflict to America. And Round 1 of their U.S. encounter ended in complete defeat for Korea.

What really embittered most Koreans, however, was not the fact they have been caught off guard by their Japanese and Chinese counterparts but the diffidence and farfetched claims the world’s second- and third-largest economic powers showed in distorting past history to disguise ― or rather reveal ― present greed to expand their spheres of influence.

Japan is especially worrisome, because its political leaders appear unabashedly set to restore their militaristic past, ignoring calls from experts and intellectuals both at home and abroad to regain reason. It is totally mistaken to try to find an exit from a domestic slump in overseas provocation.

No less inauspicious is China’s wish to recover the glory of the Middle Kingdom, unfortunately in ways that causes friction and troubles with almost all its neighbors. Had Goguryeo been one of Tang’s vassal regimes, could it have staged three all-out wars with the then world’s largest and most prosperous country, whose emperor, Tai Tsung, was routed after losing an eye? History shows that the Korean kingdom conquered much of China, including Manchuria, which comprised the currently three Northeast Asian provinces.

Seoul should request Washington to ferret out culprits who put up the posts stating the Japanese claims next to the “comfort women” monument in the Palisades Park, and Korea’s consulate general in Manhattan, and make them apologize to both Korean and American people for “racist … or biased crimes,” as a U.S. official put it. The foreign ministry should also call for the Congressional Research Service to refrain from the release of the report unless and until it carries the Korean version of this historical account in exactly the same space and order.

We know that the United States is in too delicate a situation to take sides with any country in the three sets of disputes. It is also true, however, it can’t remain as a completely neutral third party for good. The U.S. should play a more active role as an arbitrator, and if forced, a judge. And the criteria should be what its role was during Korea’s colonization and postwar readjustment, and who the biggest victims were in all the process.

These latest episodes should also serve as an awakener for Seoul to step up its diplomatic efforts, as a middle power in pursuit of universal values. The government ought to set up an independent agency, or at least a presidential council, exclusively responsible for historical and territorial affairs, and sharply expand related budgets. It must be one of the top priorities for whoever becomes the next president. <The Korea Times>