opinion

Japan’s moves to beautify its past crimes are getting more undisguised.

Recently, the Japanese authorities have officially approved the history textbooks of middle schools which denied the sexual slavery crime for the imperial Japanese army and claimed that the Japanese imperialists’ colonial rule over Korea led to its modernization.

In March last year, the Japanese Ministry of Education and Science approved after examination the primary school textbooks which replaced the records related to the conscription of Koreans with “assistance” under no duress and completely deleted the records on the massacre of Koreans committed by the Japanese imperialists on the occasion of the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923. 9. 1).

It is well-known that the Japanese authorities have persistently distorted history from a long time ago.

In order to embellish the past crimes of its aggression, they decided to use“comfort woman” and “drafting” instead of such expressions as “comfort women for the army” and “forced drafting” and the Gunma prefectural authorities forbade the use of such expressions as “forced drafting” in history textbooks from 2011 by copying the central authorities.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

The Japanese authorities are playing all tricks as they describe the war of aggression against Asian countries as a “Greater East Asia war for the liberation of colonies”, the occupation of Korea as a “just annexation to defend the security of Asia” and the crime of sexual slavery as the one committed by civilians.

As regards the distortion of their history of aggression, the Japanese authorities went so far beyond the boundary of their country as to conceal the fact about the forcible drafting of sexual slaves for the Japanese army in a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council last year.

This is a shameless and dangerous act, indeed, and such moves are arousing due protest and criticism from the international community. 

In March last year, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a press conference that the Japanese militarists’ war of aggression inflicted a great disaster on victimized nations and that forcible drafting and slave labour constitute grave crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists, adding that there is abundant evidence concerning it and no one can deny this.

The organization for protecting the rights of “comfort women” and survivors of sexual slavery staged a demonstration in the Philippines in protest against Japan’s concealment of the truth about the forcible drafting of sexual slaves for the Japanese army.

Every sin brings its punishment with it and those who do not reflect on their criminal past cannot escape their doom.

If the current Japanese authorities want to become a genuine member of the international community, they should make a sincere soul-searching and apology in order to prevent Japan’s future generations from following the destiny of preceding generations who had run towards militarism.