[경향신문] 2017-09-09 지면보기 ＜야마구치, 그 지구촌 이야기＞(영문일문 포함)

[상생21]

[이원영의 생명·탈핵 실크로드]
야마구치, 그 지구촌 이야기
http://m.khan.co.kr/view.html?artid=201709082053025&code=990100&med_id=khan

日本語 翻訳
https://ameblo.jp/yksalan/entry-12309079697.html
(translated by Kuwano Yasuo)

Change Yamaguchi、and the Global Village will change as well !

-     Yamaguchi、The Story as A Global Village -

Kyunghyang Shinmun 京郷新聞2017-09-08

 The writer (pictured in the center) with other supporters in Ube, Yamaguchi welcoming the pilgrims

Walking to Rome?  Who on earth has such an incredible idea? Last June, a certain Japanese man considered this question and was concerned about the pilgrims. He went to Laos to join the pilgrimage known as ‘The New Silk Road for Life and No-Nukes .

That is because he decided to take temporary leave of his work and join the two-year-long pilgrimage to assist the writer all the way to Rome after he was able to fully appreciate the fundamental meaning of this pilgrimage, ” Protect the Safety of the Global Villages”

He is from Yamaguchi. The name of this place is familiar to us. It was the crucible of the Meiji Restoration and also the hometown of PM Shinzo ABE.  However, what is much more impressive about this pilgrimage of the New Silk Road is that it makes us aware of some important historical facts.

The first fact we must be aware of is the accident at the Chousei Coal Mine. This was a much serious coal mining accident than that depicted in the recent movie Gunkannjima (Battleship Island). There was an undersea coal mine called Chousei Coal Mine right next to Ube city in Yamaguchi Prefecture. A terrible accident occurred there in February, 1942, in which one hundred and thirty-six Korean and forty-seven Japanese laborers were drowned when the mine shaft collapsed.

According to the paper written by Dr. PARK In-sik, which quotes the report on the Research into Forced Transportation of Korean Laborers, the coal bed of Chousei coal mine spread out under the sea, and became shallower (closer to the bottom of the sea) the further offshore it went.  There are some witnesses quoted in the paper as follows: ‘Once they went down the shaft and proceeded forward along it, the laborers were frightened that the ceiling of the shaft might collapse on them since right above the ceiling was the sea. While they stopped working and ate lunch, they heard the sound of a fishing boats’ engine and its propeller. They were constantly quivering in fear that the ceiling might collapse.’

One of the most serious problems is that the coal mining enterprise was restarted again even though the same type of accident had occurred three times in 1911, 1915, and 1921. How miserable!  These victims died in what was a foreseeable tragedy.   The Japanese government at that time lacked any sense of guilt. Who was responsible for that? . Without any reflection on the matter or accepting responsibility for it, this kind of disaster will be repeated again and again.

This is exactly the big challenge that we face. Japan experienced the terrible nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Nevertheless the Abe administration has promoted the restart of some nuclear power plants in Japan. Even after mankind went through the Three Mile Island accident, and the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, they still continue to promote the operation of the nuclear power plants.  That means that Yamaguchi and the global villages have a big challenge ahead.

 Secondly, there are plans for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. This project was started by the Chugoku Electric Power Company in cooperation with the Japanese government quite a few years ago, but it was halted right after the Fukushima accident due to the local people’s constant resistance. Now the plan is coming to life again.

Some construction work related to buildings of the nuclear power plant has allegedly restarted.   Electric power companies which utilize electricity generated by nuclear power are now beginning to indicate that they will promote nuclear power plants in order to pursue profits.

Local people in Kaminoseki have been resisting the project (similar to ‘AMA TOSO - female divers’ resistance) for thirty years.  The length of time involved in this is beyond our imagination .The transition and the conclusion of this struggle must be a litmus test for the future eval‎uation of nuclear power plants in Japan.

Thirdly, there is the story related to the local people’s passion. Yamaguchi would be directly damaged if an accident at a nuclear power plant should occur on the Korean peninsula. With this in mind, the local people in Yamaguchi showed us the most passionate support along the route of the pilgrimage to the meaning of the dignity of Life and No-Nukes New Silk Road. During the week when we were walking twenty kilometers a day in Yamaguchi prefecture, people got together in the evening after the day’s trek. All of them displayed a huge interest in overcoming the limits on existing peace movements, and in making much of the dignity of life as well.

There was also an university professor, a leading intellect strongly against the Abe administration, who kindly guided me to Chousei coal mine. The professor, Christian and Buddhist priests as well as local people voluntarily became my supporters particularly in Shimonoseki which is closely related to the Korean peninsula. Its residents, including the group leader of the ‘Association to Tie Together Japanese and Koreans’, are beginning to assist this writer and to play a decisive role in informing others of New Silk Road for Life and No-Nukes.  I’m now walking accompanied by a nice man. He may be the resultant fellow generated by the residents’ passion.

Yamaguchi is a part of the global village beyond a nation-state.  That passion will be woven into the wrap and turned into new energy. I’d like to encourage and support them by saying, “If you succeed in Yamaguchi, you shall be able to change the global village! “

Professor LEE Won-young at Suwon University, Director of Land Future Research Institute

Original Source ： http://v.media.daum.net/v/20170908210136718

Translated by  ISHIKAWA Akiko  2017-09-23