It's time to stop and reflect on ourselves

Long ago, when I was still young, I was ever engaged in trading company for a year or so. The company was not an exporter as well as a manufacturer of some electronic home appliances. My job was mainly lettering for our buyers and importing from Japan some material needed for our company products. As Korean science and technology were far behind the times, they were an avoidable choice. As you know, most advanced countries in North America and West Europe had their own safety standards, which is similar to our KS and required us to meet them. The two components-hearing wire and electronic plugs which we imported from Japan were cheaper than those produced in West Germany. To reduce logistic expenditures, my company had to prefer Japan-made items to my regret. They followed up whenever it was necessary and bothered to make a go of it even when we were pressed for deadline. Their products were next to perfect and elaborate compared to an other items, so we made no complaints at all. Meanwhile, I realized that Korean economy depended too much on Japan for the products. That is, there were always some possibilities that they might put it to good use as a weapon any time they had a mind. As evidence, they has taken advantage of their money and technology when they got chances to make a deal. That’s why we cannot righteously claim our rights related to history. They has threatened to withdraw the money they invested in the financial crisis of IMF. What is the most worse thing is when we were at the negotiation table withy Japan when it comes to our right to demand compensation in 1965. The Korean military government was desperate for money to restore our country which had torn off during Korean War. Then, besides providing chicken fee, Japan put forth a term that Korea would not claim the ownership for our island, Dok do at random. The agreement naturally opened the possibility for future conflicts. Fortunately, Japan had to suffer bubble economy for about 20 years from 1993~2013 and Korea had an opportunity to catch up with Japan in the technological sector. Above all, Samsung has been a front runner to devastate the Japanese electronic appliance manufacturers. Starting with Sony, many companies went down and are in a deep swamp. The fall of Japanese economy meant our opportunity. More than anything else, the success in Korean semi conductor industry put Korea-made mobile phones at the top of the world up to date. The problem is, nonetheless, Korean basic material industry is still strongly subordinate to Japan. Reportedly, over the year Korea has never been in the black on the trade with this neighboring economic superpower. Recently, Abe Administration started to use Korea as a support on which to hold up his political life again as his predecessors have done. To change their national constitution in which Japan is prohibited to make any war, Abe did everything he could in partnership with Us, which needs Japanese money to prevent China’s increasing power in Pacific rim area. Though Abe superficially attributes to the decision of Korean Supreme Court against Japan’s forced labor during the colonial period the reason he banned Japanese export of critical parts essential for almost all electronic equipment from mobile phone to 5G communication device to artificial intelligence called Alpago. So far, Korea has gone a long way to escape deep-rooted poverty for a long time and tried to accomplish reunification of our divided country at the same time. Japan has balanced itself skillfully between South Korea and North Korea’ partly making the best of Korea’s division reality. Their great double play has led to enormous economic benefit since Korean War.It goes to show us that Japan is afraid of our skyrocketing political, economical and cultural potential. In addition, Abe hates the idea of japan being excluded from Korea issues. Japanese passing means that Japan is losing its influence in international society, which is hurting their national pride. They seem to realize that Japan is in great crisis in the presence of Chinese power and North Korea’s threat. In the context, All I am sorry about is Korea’s world famous corporations have not been prepared for Japanese mean betrayal. Their foolishness is beyond words and their poor logic cannot support itself. What is far beyond my comprehension is Korean’s one-side love for Japan. Criticizing Japan with lips, we Koreans are crazy about whatever things related to Japan. What about me? I must confess that I ever bought a tape recorder when I visited Japan in 1980. Still, the very excuse I can make is that Korea was not able to make a portable tape recorder like walkman. Any chance I get, I avoided buying Japan-made products. I really don’t want to be two-faced as long as I blame Japan. Are we too ready to forget the history between two countries? It’s time to stop and reflect on ourselves, I think.