The following is from the Monthly Report Korean Peninsula by Tsutomu Nishioka, one of the world's leading Korean Peninsula experts, which is serialized in the July 26, 2019, issue of the monthly magazine WiLL.
The title of this month's issue is Why Koreans are liars.
It is a must-read article not only for Japanese citizens but for people around the world.
The other day, I was critical that Hashimoto Toru, a lawyer and member of the anti-Japanese leftist den of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, was raising his voice about Japan and South Korea in the polling news program. It is a paper that people like him must read carefully.
Preamble omitted.
Korean Universities are Factories of Lies
Meanwhile, in South Korea, well-meaning scholars are engaged in a fierce battle in the arena of public discourse.
I am writing this article in Seoul, Korea.
It is because Professor Lee Young-hoon and his colleagues, who represent a group of well-meaning academics who have been severe critics of anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea, have published a book that summarizes their arguments in an easy-to-understand manner, entitled "The Root of the Korean Crisis: Anti-Japanese Tribalism," and held a book launch on July 17.
Professor Lee explained why he used the unfamiliar term "anti-Japanese tribalism" instead of "anti-Japanese nationalism" in his book.
"It can classify Korean nationalism as nationalism that emerged in the West. Korean nationalism has no category of free and independent individuals. A Korean nation is a group, an authority, and a status. Therefore, it is more correct to call it a tribe."
He then offers the following bone-chilling self-criticism: "Korean historiography is a hotbed of lies, and because of such education, Koreans have come to tell lies all the time.
"The most significant responsibility lies with the lying academics in this country, as the people of this country have made lying a daily routine, and the politicians have made it a means of political contestation.
I believe history and sociology in this country are hotbeds of lies.
The universities in this country are factories of lies, and I am proud to say that it is not a big mistake to say so.
It has been that way for 60 years, since the 1960s.
That is why, in the 2000s, all the people and all the politicians have come to lie with impunity."
