The following is from an article by Lee Dae-geun, Professor Emeritus of Sungkyunkwan University, which appeared in yesterday's Sankei Shimbun titled "Vested Property: The Reality of Korean Development.
It is a must-read not only for Japanese citizens but also for people worldwide.
The U.S. military government seized the assets built during the Japanese colonial period and belonged to the U.S. military government.
They are so-called vested property and were transferred to the new government with the establishment of the Republic of Korea.
It was not possible that the imputed property, which is said to account for 80% of the total assets of Korea, had nothing to do with the country's subsequent development.
The book "Research on Vested Property: The Truth of 'Japanese Assets' Buried in Korea" (Bungei Shunju) refers to this.
The author describes the motivation for his research as follows: In order to correct the Korean prejudice against the history of Japan's colonial era, it should give a correct understanding of the actual state of vested property top priority.
The book estimates the amount of vested property to the Korean peninsula as a whole at 70 billion yen.
The Korean government has disposed of many of these vast assets to the private sector.
The number of Japanese companies confiscated as part of the property is 2,400, and they remain Korean companies.
They contributed significantly to the development of Korea.
Despite the vast amount of assets left on the Korean Peninsula, it is impossible to overlook that Korean demands for compensation continue to this day.
It is necessary to point out the historical facts this book tells the Korean side.
It should be noted that Katsuhiro Kuroda, a visiting editorial writer for the Sankei Shimbun in Seoul, was impressed by the Korean version of this book and decided to publish it in Japanese.
The History of Private Property: The Lingering Question
Words of Acceptance
In receiving this award, I have some regrets.
The U.S. military government had exempted civilian property from being seized under the guise of protecting private property, but three months later, it added it to the list.
The Japanese who returned to their own countries must have filed a claim for damages against the Japanese government for violating private property. Still, questions remain about how it handled this and what kind of compensation it gave.
Critique.
Toshio Watanabe, Director, National Institute for Basic Studies
In this book, thorough empirical research reveals that the legal norms and order, the private property system, and the market economy system brought into Korea by the annexation were the main factors that brought modernization to Korea.
Through the construction of railroads, electric power, and ports, as well as heavy and chemical industrialization, Korea transformed from a traditional agricultural society to an industrial society.
In the 1930s, Japanese capital and technology-enabled Korea experienced its first industrial revolution.
As a result, it developed more dramatically than many developing countries after World War II.
The century's work proves this fact through a detailed analysis of primary sources.
It is a must-read not only for Japanese citizens but also for people worldwide.
The U.S. military government seized the assets built during the Japanese colonial period and belonged to the U.S. military government.
They are so-called vested property and were transferred to the new government with the establishment of the Republic of Korea.
It was not possible that the imputed property, which is said to account for 80% of the total assets of Korea, had nothing to do with the country's subsequent development.
The book "Research on Vested Property: The Truth of 'Japanese Assets' Buried in Korea" (Bungei Shunju) refers to this.
The author describes the motivation for his research as follows: In order to correct the Korean prejudice against the history of Japan's colonial era, it should give a correct understanding of the actual state of vested property top priority.
The book estimates the amount of vested property to the Korean peninsula as a whole at 70 billion yen.
The Korean government has disposed of many of these vast assets to the private sector.
The number of Japanese companies confiscated as part of the property is 2,400, and they remain Korean companies.
They contributed significantly to the development of Korea.
Despite the vast amount of assets left on the Korean Peninsula, it is impossible to overlook that Korean demands for compensation continue to this day.
It is necessary to point out the historical facts this book tells the Korean side.
It should be noted that Katsuhiro Kuroda, a visiting editorial writer for the Sankei Shimbun in Seoul, was impressed by the Korean version of this book and decided to publish it in Japanese.
The History of Private Property: The Lingering Question
Words of Acceptance
In receiving this award, I have some regrets.
The U.S. military government had exempted civilian property from being seized under the guise of protecting private property, but three months later, it added it to the list.
The Japanese who returned to their own countries must have filed a claim for damages against the Japanese government for violating private property. Still, questions remain about how it handled this and what kind of compensation it gave.
Critique.
Toshio Watanabe, Director, National Institute for Basic Studies
In this book, thorough empirical research reveals that the legal norms and order, the private property system, and the market economy system brought into Korea by the annexation were the main factors that brought modernization to Korea.
Through the construction of railroads, electric power, and ports, as well as heavy and chemical industrialization, Korea transformed from a traditional agricultural society to an industrial society.
In the 1930s, Japanese capital and technology-enabled Korea experienced its first industrial revolution.
As a result, it developed more dramatically than many developing countries after World War II.
The century's work proves this fact through a detailed analysis of primary sources.
