Redressing Past Injustices (Japanese Collaborators) Through Law

The response paper I was referring to in my previous posting.

Law and Politics in Korean Society – Week 13

They call it repentance and national reconciliation.
They say there’s a need to solidify the foundations of a fledging nation.
They could not bear the thought of collaborators “making crafty excuses and walking shamelessly on the streets”.
They say there shall never be a return to “the evil past”.
They claim what’s needed is a national spirit.
What exactly constitute a national spirit?
Where do you go from here?

They call it an attempt at social justice.
They say it’s a way to seek national reunification.
They hope it would lead to sound international relations.
Where do you go from here?

Who are the collaborators?
Were they shameless and devious?
Or were they opportunists and realists?
How could they be prosecuted after contributing to nation building?
How could they not dominate every level of society?
How to establish with certainty what they had done?
How to prove beyond a reasonable doubt?
For those who genuinely believed that collaboration was a good thing, why should they be castigated for their beliefs?
Least of all, why should their descendants be castigated for the sins of their fathers?
The ironies of being buried as national heroes in the national cemetery?
But isn’t the world bursting with ironies since time immemorial?
Where do you go from here?

They said the “unfinished task of punishing collaborators was at the root, pain and misfortune that Korean society has gone through for almost a century”.
Would punishing the collaborators extinguish the pain?
Is this vindication?
Or is it vindictive?
Is this an internal cleansing of the nation?
As if to disinfect, sterilize and purge the entire system.
But at what cost to the patient?
Where do you go from here?

Maybe tearing at the social fabric might help.
Perhaps opening up a can of worms might be the answer.
But what if at the end of the long and tedious process “no one” is to be blamed?
Or what if “everyone” is to be blamed?
What if it’s the “system” and “history” that is to be blamed?
Where do you go from here?

A nation’s soul search for an answer.
A cathartic process.
To heal its wounds and mend its pain.
But at what cost to itself and its neighbors?
An emotional reconciliation.
A true reconciliation.
But is there such a thing as a true reconciliation?
Where do you go from here?

A nation scarred by annexation, division and war.
A nation encumbered with painful historical memories.
The tears, the bloodshed and the agonizing memories.
Scars so deep that they are still drenched in blood.
A fractious nation.
A bleeding heart.
A tormented nightmare - where the past haunts the present, and torments the future.
Where do you go from here?

No one knows the answer.
Because there are no clear answers.
Because there are no clear winners or losers.
Because the world isn’t black and white.
Because the world has various shades of gray in between.
Because the truth is somewhere in between.
Truth with a capital T, is illusive.
Truth with a capital T will remain buried, hidden and concealed in the thousands of shades of gray in between.
Some say the truth will set you free.
But maybe it won’t.

November 27, 2005
12.51 a.m.
Seoul