I Don`t want to be a Korean Citizen

Victims of the Pacific War decided to collectively submit a document on renouncing their Korean nationality in a protest against the Korean government`s indifference to their issue. Kim Seong-su (79) was forced to fight in the Pacific war during the Japanese colonization period. He lost his right arm and was severely injured in his left leg from a battle in Myanmar. After the war, he returned to Korea and had a number of jobs such as an interpreter for U.S. forced in Busan and shoe seller. But he faced much difficulty because of his injured body. Japan never considered about giving compensation to Korean victims from the Pacific war and the Korean government paid little attention to the issue.

Controversies are brewing as victims of the Pacific war such as forced workers like Kim Seong-su and comfort women are attempting to renounce their Korean nationality with the Liberation Day a few days away. Victims argued that their attempt to give up their own nationality was a very testimony to their anger and frustration toward the Korean government. About 30 civic groups joined together to enact a law on investigating the damage suffered by forced laborers during the Pacific war. The committee for the establishment of the law announced Thursday that 300 members from five associations of victims from the war decided to submit the document on renouncing their nationality on August 13.

The committee also plans to submit a document about the hardship and ordeals suffered by the victims and ask for a dialogue with president Roh Moo-hyeon.

The government`s lukewarm attitude toward the issue is largely responsible for their extreme move. The victims say that it`s frustrating to see Korean government doing nothing about Japan`s argument that the victims` right to claim compensation toward the Japanese government disappeared with the signing of the Basic Agreement between Korean and Japan in 1965.

The co-head of the committee and lawyer Choi Bong-tae said, “We asked the Korean government to disclose the documents of the Basic Agreement to prove the Japanese government wrong. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, however, just replied that disclosure is impossible considering the request from the Japanese government and the diplomatic relationship with Japan. The Korean government itself is a barrier to solving the compensation problem.”

According to An Sin-kwon, the director of a nursing house where women forced to work as comfort women for the Japanese army live together, only 129 are alive out of 300 women who identified themselves as comfort women during the war. These 129 victims are on average over 80 years old. The director emphasized the need for special measures to provide these victims with official apology and compensation from the Japanese government before they die. Kim Seong-su, who will visit Cheong Wae Dae and deliver the document on behalf of the victims, said that Korean government gave him as much pain as the Japanese government did.

But renouncing one`s nationality will be a difficult procedure. According to an official from the Ministry of Justice, the acquiring of other nations` nationality should be reported before renouncing one`s nationality. In other words, it is legally impossible to have no nationality at all. The co-head of the committee Choi Bong-tae responded that the committee would file a lawsuit if the call for the renouncement of the nationality is not accepted.

Sun-Woo Kim sublime@donga.com