- Joined
- 12 Aug 2003
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As we all know, in the year 1910, The Meiji Empire of Japan annexed the Korean Empire. It was the beginning of a thirty-five-year brutal occupation by the Japanese, ending in 1945, after many air raids in Japanese and Korean cities, such as Seoul, Busan, and Pyongyang.
Crushed and defeated, Emperor Showa (Hirohito) ordered the Japanese troops to withdraw from Korea, leaving the peninsula to be invaded by two powers, the south by the Americans and the north by the communist Soviets.
Of course, even though Nihon left Korea, the Koreans still never forgot their defeats at the Japanese hands, which was to prove disastrous in just five years.
From this time on, Korea lay divided. The South was a prosperous, modern country, and the north was a communist, developing country. When in 1950, the North invaded the South, America, England, Wales, and Scotland helped the South liberate itself, while Red China, which too, like Korea, had been liberated from Japanese rule just five years before, helped the fellow Red North.
Japan, which was still under American occupation, wanted to send some troops into Korea to help the Nationalist South. However, the S. Koreans resisted the idea.
Emperor Hirohito was angered. Here he was, going out of his way from his occupied country to help the South, but he was getting the cold shoulder from South Korea.
Of course, Emperor Showa hated Korea and thought of them as inferior, but he still wanted to show that Japan was not defeated.
As the Korean end drew to a close in 1953, Asia had been left divided. American troops left Japan, and Soviet forces left Mongolia and North Korea. These countries remained communist. American forces left South Korea in 1954, but the Americans left the islands of Ryuku and Okinawa in 1972.
In this time, in Korea and Japan, racism and hatred against both Koreans (in Nihon) and Japanese (in Korea, mainly the South) sprung up. The Koreans were still angry at the Japanese for the brutality of the occupation period, and the Japanese felt Koreans as being inferior.
Syngman Rhee, S. Korean prime minister, hated the Japanese, and in Japan, ministers of education did not put the brutality of the occupation in textbooks.
Emperor Hirohito, in the 1970s, ambiguously apologized, but this was not good enough for the Koreans.
By 1980, Japan had become terribly modern. Major cities which were modern like Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, and Sapporo started springing up. In South Korea, cities like Seoul, Busan, Inchon, and Daegu were also present.
Of course, South Koreans still hate the Japanese. At my Taekwando studio, which is obviously South Korean, I brought my Emperor Hirohito book one day, and all the South Koreans present in the studio glared at me.
IMO, the Japanese and Koreans are both to blame, but mostly the Koreans. Of course, the Japanese did indeed kill many Koreans for no reason, and the thirty-five-year occupation as a Japanese colony was uncalled for, but the Koreans must forget that.
South Korea and Japan must ally to fight North Korea. If this racism and inferiority continue, then both countries may get invaded by North Korea and face a brutal occupation themselves.
Of course, N. Korea and S. Korea are both much stronger (military wise) than Japan, which used to be strong, but still, they must ally and put aside their differences, for now, at least.
Crushed and defeated, Emperor Showa (Hirohito) ordered the Japanese troops to withdraw from Korea, leaving the peninsula to be invaded by two powers, the south by the Americans and the north by the communist Soviets.
Of course, even though Nihon left Korea, the Koreans still never forgot their defeats at the Japanese hands, which was to prove disastrous in just five years.
From this time on, Korea lay divided. The South was a prosperous, modern country, and the north was a communist, developing country. When in 1950, the North invaded the South, America, England, Wales, and Scotland helped the South liberate itself, while Red China, which too, like Korea, had been liberated from Japanese rule just five years before, helped the fellow Red North.
Japan, which was still under American occupation, wanted to send some troops into Korea to help the Nationalist South. However, the S. Koreans resisted the idea.
Emperor Hirohito was angered. Here he was, going out of his way from his occupied country to help the South, but he was getting the cold shoulder from South Korea.
Of course, Emperor Showa hated Korea and thought of them as inferior, but he still wanted to show that Japan was not defeated.
As the Korean end drew to a close in 1953, Asia had been left divided. American troops left Japan, and Soviet forces left Mongolia and North Korea. These countries remained communist. American forces left South Korea in 1954, but the Americans left the islands of Ryuku and Okinawa in 1972.
In this time, in Korea and Japan, racism and hatred against both Koreans (in Nihon) and Japanese (in Korea, mainly the South) sprung up. The Koreans were still angry at the Japanese for the brutality of the occupation period, and the Japanese felt Koreans as being inferior.
Syngman Rhee, S. Korean prime minister, hated the Japanese, and in Japan, ministers of education did not put the brutality of the occupation in textbooks.
Emperor Hirohito, in the 1970s, ambiguously apologized, but this was not good enough for the Koreans.
By 1980, Japan had become terribly modern. Major cities which were modern like Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, and Sapporo started springing up. In South Korea, cities like Seoul, Busan, Inchon, and Daegu were also present.
Of course, South Koreans still hate the Japanese. At my Taekwando studio, which is obviously South Korean, I brought my Emperor Hirohito book one day, and all the South Koreans present in the studio glared at me.
IMO, the Japanese and Koreans are both to blame, but mostly the Koreans. Of course, the Japanese did indeed kill many Koreans for no reason, and the thirty-five-year occupation as a Japanese colony was uncalled for, but the Koreans must forget that.
South Korea and Japan must ally to fight North Korea. If this racism and inferiority continue, then both countries may get invaded by North Korea and face a brutal occupation themselves.
Of course, N. Korea and S. Korea are both much stronger (military wise) than Japan, which used to be strong, but still, they must ally and put aside their differences, for now, at least.
