The following is an excerpt from an article by Takashi Suzuki, a Korean observer, former Nikkei newspaper correspondent, and head of the economics department. It appeared in the monthly magazine WiLL on September 26th in a three-column format on pages 279 to 285.
This article should be read by people worldwide, not only by the Japanese.
It is the depth of the crime of the mass media, including the Asahi Shimbun, which has yet to convey the reality of Korea as revealed by his exertion.
The crime of the Komei Party and pro-Korean factions, or the legislators with vested interests in Korea, who have even begun to provide guidance and announcements in the country's language in Japanese public institutions, is profound.
Korea will disappear - why?
We will get to the actual situation in Korea that the media is not reporting on.
Despite having the world's worst birthrate,
the preamble is omitted
South Korea's consideration for China
Many Japanese people think that South Korea is a country in the same liberalist camp as Japan and the United States.
This is especially true of South Korea under President Yoon Seok-youl's administration.
Since taking office, President Yoon has held a series of summit meetings with President Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. His catchphrase has been "a return to a pro-American line."
However, the US does not consider South Korea a country that shares common values or sees it as a reliable first-class ally.
Even when South Korea has expressed its desire to join the Quad (a strategic dialogue between Japan, the US, Australia, and India) or AUKUS (a security framework between the US, the UK, and Australia), the US has not responded at all.
It is not surprising that the US has given up on South Korea.
As I discuss in detail in Chapter 3 of "The Demise of South Korea," when Russia invaded Ukraine, South Korea did not join the counter-sanctions that the US had called for.
The US government was furious and threatened that "the US would check all of South Korea's counter-sanction exports."
Furthermore, the Voice of America (VOA), under the control of the US State Department, fiercely criticized South Korea, calling it "ungrateful."
After being harshly criticized, the South Korean government reluctantly joined the sanctions.
It was the left-leaning Moon Jae-in administration then, but Yun Seok-yeol, a conservative presidential candidate, also spoke out against the sanctions.
An incident that further stirred up mistrust in the US occurred in August 2022.
The then Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Seoul and Tokyo after visiting Taiwan.
Prime Minister Kishida welcomed her, but President Yoon refused to meet with her, citing the summer holidays.
If you advocate freedom and democracy, you would be expected to meet with Pelosi to check China's aggression towards Taiwan.
Despite this, President Yoon, who was in Seoul then, did not meet with her, apparently out of consideration for China.
When a conservative newspaper in South Korea criticized him for this, President Yoon hastily arranged a telephone conversation with Ms. Pelosi to save face, but this only served to highlight his weak stance.
After all, he had the nerve to keep the conversation on the telephone, even though they were both in the small city of Seoul.
On October 31st, 2022, another incident made us doubt South Korea's position.
It was when the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly issued a statement condemning China's human rights abuses in the Uyghur region.
Fifty countries from the free democracy camp, including Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, signed the statement.
However, South Korea did not join the statement.
The "fear of China" among Koreans is deeply rooted.
It stems from the historical imprint of "never going against China, the great power next door."
At the beginning of the 21st century, I once asked a friend in the Korean leadership, "Why do you always do what China tells you to do?".
The answer was, "Because, unlike Japan, we have never won a war against China."
This feeling is probably the same as Russia's.
There will inevitably be differences in how Japan and South Korea approach China.
After all, for over 1000 years, the dynasties of the Korean Peninsula were vassals of the dynasties of the Chinese mainland.
However, we should be aware that South Korea is a country that cannot oppose China.
Even the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which has announced a return to the US, is so respectful to China.
There is a high possibility that a left-wing government will be born in May 2027.
We cannot afford to trust South Korea.
Another thing we need to be careful about is "concessions to South Korea."
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some politicians, scholars, and journalists say, "We need to make concessions to South Korea to attract the US and Japan."
But this is the exact opposite.
The country of Korea is not a "friendly country" but a "scary country" that listens to what you say.
If Japan and the US are kind to them, they will take advantage of it and go to the "scary China" side.
In the past, Japan and Korea sometimes engaged in violent conflict, but they were both "Western countries."
Their fundamental interests were the same.
They were the same country until August 1945, so the politicians of both countries understood each other's intentions.
It was a close relationship.
But that era is over.
We have no choice but to interact with the assumption that we could become countries of different camps at any time.
Lee Jae-Myung, who has the highest chance of becoming the next president, has publicly stated that Japan is an "enemy nation."
They may not say it out loud now, but they will eventually bear their fangs in the United States as well.
2024/10/1 in Umeda
