[오늘과 내일/서영아]Memories with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba｜Dong-A Ilbo

Seo Young-ah, Head of Content Planning Division When the new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba took office in Japan on the 1st, many columns and comments about him poured out. Nevertheless, I would like to add something belatedly. As the person who exposed to the world his remark, “You must apologize until the other party understands it,” which was talked about in the Korean and Japanese media, while he was a Tokyo correspondent, there is a behind-the-scenes story that has been kept secret.

There was a bit of an uproar in Japan after the interview article was published in the Dong-A Ilbo on May 23, 2017. The Sankei Shimbun asked Ishiba about the circumstances of his remarks, and he said, “I did not use the word ‘apology.’ “I said we should continue our efforts until both parties are convinced,” he said vaguely. In response to the Sankei Shimbun’s request, “If so, protest to the Dong-A Ilbo,” he responded, “I have no intention of doing so.” This argument took place among themselves, and I read it belatedly in print. However, if interpreted according to the article, the Dong-A Ilbo could appear to have ‘overdone’ it.

“Damaging human dignity is something that should not be done and is something to be sorry for.”

Fortunately, I still have a 56-minute interview recording file. I listened to it again this time.

The passage regarding Japanese military comfort women was a combination of his remarks spanning two paragraphs. After listing the various claims being made in Japan, he said, “But whether you are Korean, Japanese, or American, hurting human dignity is something that should not be done and is something to be sorry for.” When the writer said, ‘Actually, I apologized several times, but it doesn’t seem to have been accepted,’ he said, “I really hope you understand that point. So, I have no choice but to work hard until they understand.”

In response to this, the author again looked at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s approach at the time (‘everything has been resolved because the government paid 1 billion yen in compensation’, and the National Assembly’s response that ‘there is not even a hair’ to the plan to write an apology letter to the grandmothers, etc.) ) pointed out the backlash that resulted from within Korea. He said, “How about it? Would you understand if the Japanese really sincerely said they were sorry for harming human dignity? There were many Japanese who tried in that way. However, in the end, there is quite a bit of frustration and disappointment that they are not recognized. No matter how sincerely and heartfelt I apologize, no one will acknowledge me… .”

Some sentences were omitted during the process of condensing it into an article, but the exact wording was as follows. If you listen closely, he used a lot of honorifics and colloquial expressions such as ‘sorry (申し訳ない)’ and ‘apologize (謝る)’ rather than the word ‘apology’.

Consistent interview from 7 years ago, 17 years ago

At that time, I thought about watching it after hearing that there was a recording, but I decided against it. Even so, there were concerns that Ishiba, who was an ‘outcast’ within the party, could get into great trouble. I was also grateful that he agreed to an interview with the Korean media, which all Japanese politicians avoid in a tense atmosphere between Korea and Japan. During the actual interview, the author said, ‘I’m honestly concerned that (the article) will cause harm to you.’

Looking back, 10 years ago, in November 2007, as Minister of Defense under the Yasuo Fukuda administration, he became the first Korean media outlet to be interviewed by Dong-A Ilbo. In 2006, he was invited to a study group for international students in Tokyo, where they discussed Japanese politics and had a simple dinner. To that extent, he was always open to meeting Koreans.

He is a ‘studying’ politician. For example, he has not visited Yasukuni Shrine since 2002, and in a 2007 interview, he said the reason was, ‘I couldn’t bear to go after studying history.’ Although he has a ‘military otaku’ side and an idealistic side, he is also a realist who advocated revitalizing the region, saying that ‘population decline is the greatest security crisis’ as he served as the minister of local revitalization.

However, it is questionable whether the role of a powerful person coordinating, persuading, and leading old politicians is suitable for him. There seem to be many mountains that Prime Minister Ishiba must overcome before he can express his convictions on historical issues and relations with neighboring countries.

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Seo Young-ah, Head of Content Planning Division sya@donga.com

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