The comfort women grandmothers, now elderly, were finely dressed as they welcomed Kang Jin-hoo, Ellie, and the reporters.
“Aigoo! CEO Kang Jin-hoo, you’ve come?”
“There hasn’t been much to smile about lately, but I’m smiling because of you, CEO Kang.”
“I felt so refreshed seeing you chase off Okamoto the other day.”
“I was just waiting for the day I’d die, but now it feels like there’s some hope.”
Kang Jin-hoo greeted each of the grandmothers individually.
“Please, just call me Jin-hoo. I’m only a CEO at the company, not here.”
There were already several volunteers at the House of Sharing, and among them were Japanese people. In the morning, Kang Jin-hoo and Ellie cleaned with the volunteers and looked around the House of Sharing.
After lunch, the testimonies began in earnest.
“I wasn’t the only one taken from Hamgyong Province. Six of us, including me, were taken from my village. Among them was a 12-year-old child. When we arrived, a Japanese officer said, ‘From now on, will you dedicate your body and soul to the Great Empire of Japan and live as sex slaves?’”
Her voice was calm, as if time had stripped away all anger and sadness. But the content of her story was anything but.
Ellie covered her mouth and shed tears. Kang Jin-hoo tried his best to maintain a composed expression, but he couldn't stop his eyes from reddening and the corners from trembling.
The foreign reporters present also could not hide their shock. As they had come to write articles, they had thoroughly researched what the comfort women had gone through before arriving.
Nevertheless, the stories they heard firsthand were even more horrifying and cruel. It was hard to believe what human beings had done to other human beings.
When one grandmother showed the knife scar on her thigh, saying a Japanese soldier had stabbed her there because she wouldn't spread her legs, a BBC reporter screamed and fainted.
After the half-day of testimony ended, Kang Jin-hoo held the grandmothers' hands tightly and said.
“Thank you for sharing your stories today. I believe that if Japan hears this, they will actively move towards apology and compensation. So please, you must stay alive until then.”
***
The meeting between Kang Jin-hoo and the comfort women grandmothers was, as expected, an international issue.
Time magazine ran a special feature with interviews of comfort women and forced labor survivors, and other foreign media outlets also focused on it.
Japan had committed numerous criminal acts during its colonial rule and war of aggression. But among them, the comfort women issue was like an Achilles' heel.
It was a crime against humanity targeting women, the victims were still alive, and there were photographs and documents.
Because the testimony and evidence were so solid, Japan itself could not deny the existence of comfort women, but took the position that there was no state intervention or forced mobilization.
Whenever this issue became an international topic, Japan would use its immense economic power to launch an all-out lobbying effort to suppress it.
A prime example was when civic groups from eight countries, including South Korea and China, applied to have the comfort women records registered with UNESCO, Japan blocked it by even withholding its financial contributions.
The thinking was that this fact had to be buried, at least while the survivors were alive. Once all the survivors were dead, the demands for apology and compensation would weaken.
After all, do the dead not speak?
But with Kang Jin-hoo stepping in, the situation was spiraling out of control.
Unlike the foreign media, which reported it in headlines and major news, the Japanese media made little mention of it.
But no matter how much they tried to hide it, there was no way that articles making international headlines would not become known in Japan.
Japanese people who came across the articles were deeply shocked.
-Our country committed such crimes?
-As a Japanese person, I sincerely apologize. No matter how much I apologize, their pain will not be healed, but I still apologize.
-This is a fact that most Japanese people did not know. Thank you for letting us know now. I will not forget this and will tell the people around me.
-So shameful and devastating. Can Japan still call itself a developed country after this?
The backlash from the right-wing was also fierce.
-It's all a lie! Fabricated facts! We must not be fooled by the lies of the Joseon-jings!
-They weren't forcibly taken; they came on their own to sell their bodies to make money.
-The income of comfort women was dozens of times that of soldiers.
-It was decades ago, and it's all over! The people who committed the crimes are all dead, so why are you telling us to apologize?
-It was all finished with the comfort women agreement!
-So we gave them money! We gave them money, what more do you want?
-Which other great power has paid as much in reparations as Japan?
When a Democratic Party member questioned this issue in the Japanese Diet, Prime Minister Okazaki said.
“This is a matter that was already concluded with the comfort women agreement. South Korea must abide by the promise between nations. Demanding further apologies is unjust.”
This was what he had said every time the comfort women issue arose.
“Even if the Prime Minister is right, that was an agreement between Japan and South Korea, not North Korea, wasn't it? Japan must negotiate all issues, including comfort women, with North Korea from scratch. What is the government's plan for this?”
While the Japanese political world was in a flurry, the South Korean political scene was also noisy.
The Freedom People's Party took a negative stance on inter-Korean economic cooperation and focused on gathering public opinion. But as the comfort women issue emerged as a point of contention in the North Korea-Japan reparations negotiations, the sparks suddenly flew in their direction.
Criticism once again poured in regarding the Japan-Korea comfort women agreement that was hastily made during the previous administration.
Representative Yeon Nakyeong said, as if wronged.
“Further deterioration of Korea-Japan relations is not desirable. Now is the time to move towards the future rather than dwelling on the rights and wrongs of the past. The activist-led diplomacy, steeped in pro-North sentiment, is dragging our current diplomacy towards anti-Japanism. In the end, the damage will fall upon our people. It is time for politicians to calmly reflect on whether they are not politically exploiting anti-Japanese sentiment.”
This remark sparked a strong backlash in South Korea, but it received praise from right-wing and anti-Korean figures in Japan.
International public opinion was clearly turning against Japan.
The Japanese political world was busy trying to come up with countermeasures, but it was difficult to find a suitable one.
The reason South Korea had not been able to respond strongly to Japan on past historical issues or the Dokdo issue was that if the conflict between the two countries grew, South Korea would suffer greater losses than Japan. However, the situation had changed significantly since Kang Jin-hoo's appearance.
A lawmaker from the Japan Innovation Party demanded a strong response from the government.
“We must impose strong export sanctions on South Korea across all items!”
It was an unrealistic suggestion.
If Japan once again threatened with material and component exports, OTK Company would respond in kind.
Even if they were to go through with it, accepting the damage, it would not be as effective as before.
Initially, the reason Japanese companies could hold a stranglehold on South Korean companies in the materials and components sector was the belief that South Korea and Japan were economic partners, regardless of the political situation.
But Japan had shown that it could use its economy as a weapon depending on the political situation.
Since there was no guarantee that the same thing would not happen again, South Korean companies, led by OTK Company, diversified their import sources for materials and components they had relied on from Japan to Europe, the United States, and elsewhere. At the same time, large corporations collaborated to support small and medium-sized enterprises and began to nurture domestic material and component companies.
In fact, even after the export sanctions on South Korea were lifted, exports, which had once decreased, showed no signs of recovery. Exports to South Korea in the last quarter had decreased by a staggering 30 percent year-on-year.
From the perspective of Japanese companies, it was utterly baffling. Because the government had stubbornly refused to sell, they had lost a major customer who had been buying from them just fine!
The problem didn't end there.
Other countries also relied on Japanese materials and components. These countries, too, watched the trade dispute between South Korea and Japan and realized anew how dangerous dependence on Japan was.
Many countries reduced their trade with Japan and increased their trade with South Korea instead.
In fact, this result was predictable from the moment the export sanctions were imposed. It would have been the same even if South Korea had surrendered and Japan had won.
They had gained nothing and only shot themselves in the foot.
If they were to pull the same stunt again, there was a risk that the Japanese economy could be completely ruined.
“We must ask the United States to mediate. We must actively inform them that the deterioration of Japan-Korea relations is a threat to America's security.”
America's most important Asian ally was also Japan, not South Korea. That's why the US had subtly sided with Japan in disputes between the two countries in the past. The comfort women agreement signed during the previous administration was also largely due to American influence.
But now, South Korea had been elevated to an American ally on par with Japan, and the US no longer sided with Japan.
In fact, they were still pouring huge amounts of money into lobbying in Washington, but neither the Democrats nor the Republicans budged.
Prime Minister Okazaki requested a visit to North Korea and a Japan-North Korea summit to find a breakthrough. But North Korea lightly ignored the request and broadcast a denunciation statement through Korean Central Television.
“The arrogant Okazaki clique is going crazy, spouting all sorts of nonsense to cover up the extra-large anti-humanitarian crime of sex slavery. Before talking about negotiations, Japanese politicians must kneel before our victims and their families and beg for forgiveness. They must remember that our people are trembling with horror and rage at the atrocities of the Japanese bastards!”
***
I entered the Golden Gate building with Taek-gyu.
The employees coming and going looked at me with a mixture of respect and astonishment. When I went up to the branch manager's office, Hyun-joo noona and Ellie were there together.
Something must have happened, as Ellie was crying with her head down.
I was startled.
“Why are you crying?”
Taek-gyu asked.
“Did noona hit you?”
Hyun-joo noona yelled back.
“I didn't hit her!”
It turned out that she had become emotional again while talking about the comfort women grandmothers. Well, she had cried her eyes out all day after coming back that day, too.
I hugged Ellie and comforted her.
Hyun-joo noona asked me.
“What are you thinking?”
“I'm going to try to get an apology and compensation from Japan this time.”
“As you know, the international order and business move according to the logic of power, not emotion. It's no use for the weak to cry out that they've been wronged.”
I nodded.
“You need power to receive an apology too.”
When it came to past historical issues, Germany, unlike Japan, thoroughly punished war criminals and apologized to its neighboring countries.
Is this because Germans are good and Japanese are bad?
Germany is located in the heart of Europe and invaded powerful countries like France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. Therefore, after its defeat, survival would have been difficult without cooperating with its neighbors.
On the other hand, Japan is an island nation and invaded weaker countries like Joseon, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Indonesia.
These countries were so underdeveloped even after liberation that they desperately wanted investment from Japanese funds. Japan was still the strongest country in Asia, and the victimized countries were in a position to beg for Japan's capital and technology. Therefore, they had no leeway to bring up past historical issues.
On the other hand, South Korea is now well-off, so it's claiming its rights.
Taek-gyu asked.
“What about China?”
“They gave up their claims agreement.”
In fact, it was Japan that made the current Communist Party of China.
The Communist Party, which was on the verge of annihilation, pushed back by the Kuomintang, formed a united front to fight against Japan, and the strengthened Communist Party drove out the Kuomintang and established the People's Republic of China.
So much so that Mao Zedong even expressed gratitude for the Japanese invasion.
After that, China gave up its claims against Japan in exchange for being recognized as the sole successor state to the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, it is difficult for them to directly address this issue.
Ellie wiped her tears and said, sniffling.
“Even Germany, while apologizing countless times to the Jews, didn't even mention the Romani genocide. And Great Britain, while saying little about other crimes, apologized to China for the Opium Wars.”
This is the harsh reality of international relations.
The reason Japan denies the forced mobilization of comfort women, makes anti-Korean remarks, and occasionally claims Dokdo as Japanese territory by calling it Takeshima, is all because they think it benefits Japan.
Therefore, there is only one thing I need to think about now. What is the most beneficial course of action?
If Japan uses anti-Korean sentiment for political purposes, there's no rule saying I can't use past history. In the current situation, doing so is very helpful.
Of course, if Japan sincerely apologizes and provides compensation, things will be resolved well... but that will never happen.
In the end, this issue will be dragged on for a while, which will work in favor of the South Korea-North Korea-Russia economic cooperation.
“What do you think of the current situation, noona?”
“Well. It could be just another incident like before…”
Hyun-joo noona crossed her arms and was lost in thought for a moment. Then, after a while, she opened her mouth.
“Perhaps it could be a turning point that changes the order in East Asia.”
Although South Korea has grown to the point of joining the ranks of developed countries, Japan is still a step above South Korea in terms of both economic power and international influence.
The GDP gap with Japan is still more than 2.5 times.
To reverse this, South Korea's GDP per capita would have to rise to $80,000, which would be difficult even if ten more companies like OTK Company were created.
But the story changes if it forms an economic bloc with other countries. South Korea is geographically located at the gateway between ASEAN and Central Asia.
The problem is that North Korea is blocking the way, but now there are signs that this problem will be resolved. Future growth potential in Saemangeum development, semiconductors, batteries, automobiles, TWR, VRMMORPGs, etc. is also sufficient.
With the rapid growth of the South Korean economy, and the power of OTK Company added to it, could it really change the order in East Asia?