50-year balance sheet of normalization of Seoul-Tokyo ties

“Pohang Iron & Steel Co. (currently POSCO) was constructed with bloods of our ancestors.” Korea’s ‘Iron King’ former POSCO Chairman Park Tae-joon once made the statement. It was because POSCO was constructed with a portion of compensation, which Japan paid for damage Korea had suffered during the colonial rule, in the 1960s when Korea lacked domestic capital and could hardly afford to make loans from overseas. By producing steel, dubbed ‘industrial rice,’ Korea was able to finally start industrial revolution some 200 years after the Industrial Revolution. The steel industry provided the solid foundation that enabled Korea to become a manufacturing powerhouse following the footsteps of the U.K., the U.S., and Japan.

Monday marked the 50th anniversary of Korea-Japan ties. The Korea-Japan treaty signed in 1965 was criticized as being agreement of indignity. Japan paid 800 million US dollars as ‘compensation for war damage” to the Philippines, which the former occupied for three years. In contrast, Japan only provided 600 million dollars including 300 million dollars in ‘economic aid’ loans to Korea, a country that Japan ruled as a colony for 35 years. Former Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil claimed that the Philippines had different international status than Korea, because the former participated in the San Francisco Peace Treaty. By using a portion of the compensation as ‘seed money,’ Korea created the Miracle of the Han River. Compared with the Philippines and Myanmar, which wasted compensations and lost a chance to take an economic leap forward, Korea can take pride in its achievements.

Japan also enjoyed significant gains due to Korea’s economic development. While Korea was making export-driven economic growth, Japan raked in massive trade surplus over Korea by selling parts and machinery. For the 50 years, Korea has incurred a cumulative total of 516.4 billion US dollars in trade deficit alone with Japan. The Korean economy expanded nearly 400 times from 3 billion dollars (GDP) in 50 years ago to 1.3 trillion dollars (2013). However, the Korean economy is still less than one third the size of Japan.

Japan was a country that would learn from Korea since ancient times, but it has been long since their statures were switched, with Korea learning from Japan. Since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took power, Japan seeks to repeat distortion of past history, and regressive behaviors against neighboring countries. Korea should cooperate with Japan when needed to ensure its national interest, but it should never forget a painful past. The only way for Korea to beat Japan, which is trying to avoid making apology by using various excuses, is to become a nation more powerful than Japan.

ysshin@donga.com