Chilgok

A somewhat desultory day packing in as many museums as possible in the ongoing pitiless weather. I left Busan early this morning for Chilgok. The city became a critical battleground in the early stages of the Korean War as UN forces retreated south. A string of battles took place along the Nakdong River that runs through it. This western portion of the Pusan Perimeter was the final strategic defensive line protecting the temporary South Korean government in Daegu. Chronologically between the humiliation at Osan and the redemption at Incheon, it represents the nadir of UN prospects; plans had been drawn up to evacuate all equipment and military personnel to Japan in the event of defeat here. For fifty-five days they doggedly engaged in brutal combat, often hand-to-hand, to avert disaster. The museums highlight the intensity and precarity that characterised much of the fighting; Dabudong, for example, changed hands fifteen times.

Unsatisfied with the morning’s morbidity, I visited the National Memorial Museum of Forced Mobilisation under Japanese Occupation for good measure. The self-styled Yad Vashem of Korea recounts the horrors visited by their erstwhile oppressors. An estimated eight million Koreans were marshalled into Japan’s imperial machine, during which they toiled under appalling conditions. The museum was opened in 2015 at a cost of 500 billion won, underscoring the enduring trauma this chapter has left in South Korea’s national psyche.

Japanese acts of contrition are repeatedly repudiated as insufficient and insincere. This issue has come up a couple of times so I’ll grant it greater consideration here.

Though Japan has largely acknowledged and attempted to make amends for the terrible suffering it caused, it has never unequivocally apologised in a manner akin to post-war Germany. Many victims rightly feel aggrieved about this, but they often overlook important context. At the time, allowing Japan to save face was seen as a necessary precondition for its surrender. Condemning its revered leaders — especially the emperor, who to this day retains a quasi-divine status — was considered too bitter a pill to swallow.

Before the Second World War had even drawn to a close, concerns were already percolating about a future conflict with the Soviet Union. Such fears received irrefutable vindication as the Iron Curtain descended across Eastern Europe in the following years. Heads quickly turned to Asia, where a communist victory in the Chinese Civil War seemed a fait accompli and Korea looked poised for fratricidal conflict. Determined not to repeat the same mistakes, Western leaders deemed a strong Japan an essential bulwark against Soviet predations. It also didn’t help that few of their colonial subjects were educated, rendering Japanese administrators and collaborators indispensable to transitions to independence. This provoked considerable ire at the time, but effective governance, even if morally bankrupt, was viewed as a necessary evil to militate against the instability that communist agitators would surely exploit.

For these reasons, the individuals and enterprises that profited from Japanese imperialism were largely left as they were. To this day, they and their progeny retain considerable influence, which helps to explain why introspection remains limited nearly eighty years on. This is undoubtedly unsatisfactory, especially for Koreans, who constituted one of the largest victim groups.

Though attitudes remain largely hostile, some have seen the benefits of a more conciliatory approach, as evidenced by the normalisation of relations between Japan and South Korea — albeit undemocratically governed at the time — in 1965. It provided for hundreds of millions in grants and soft loans, considerably eclipsing any succour Jews or Israel have received from Germany.

Japan has consistently shown itself to be a responsible global actor. Economic ascendancy in the second half of the twentieth century was not followed by militaristic revanchism as many feared. Japan, in contrast to China for example, has been a source of stability and prosperity in the region. Its economic model is closely adhered to by its neighbours, South Korea chiefly among them. If words have not been forthcoming, it is clear that Japanese actions speak loudly.

My final stop was the United Nations Peace Memorial Hall next door. It outlined the organisation’s vital role in the Korean War and ongoing humanitarian efforts, setting me up perfectly for my visit to the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan tomorrow.