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The government on Thursday announced a new doctrine for its dealings with Japan based on a series of developments including Japan's Shimane Prefecture designating a "Takeshima Day," after the Japanese name for the Dokdo Islets, and the whitewashing of past atrocities in a textbook backed by a rightwing organization.
The government has effectively acknowledged that the "quiet diplomacy" it has maintained toward Japan in consideration of the cooperative relationship between the two countries does not work. The new doctrine says the government will deal with Japanese provocations positively and firmly. The fault for prompting Korea in this new direction lies entirely with Japan, especially after Seoul designated this year the Korea-Japan Friendship Year commemorating 40 years of diplomatic ties as a springboard for a future-oriented bilateral relationship.
Japan's new right wing and the post-war-generation politicians traveling with it covet Korean territory and are whitewashing Japan's past atrocities as if to say, "What are you going to do about it?" The ceaseless Japanese coat-trailing, carried out in the full knowledge that it will infuriate the Korean people, could be happening because Japan realizes it is morally overreaching itself when it clamors for a greater international political role commensurate with its economic strength.
What the agents of provocation in Japan overlook is that their country needs the trust and support of Korea, its neighbor, if it wants to be given the reception it hopes for in the international community. Korea should teach these forces a lesson by making the world community aware of Japanese attempts to infringe our sovereignty and distort history. They must understand that economic might alone cannot be a passport to an international role.
But while dealing firmly with those who would provoke us, the government should not discourage exchanges with ordinary Japanese citizens, including the many people of good sense in our island neighbor. Neither should Japanese residents in Korea feel uneasy amid the public uproar or Japanese tourists visiting here from an affection for Korean culture turn back. That would be precisely what the coat-trailers in Japan want to achieve so as to win more public support in their country. If we allow them to succeed, there may be no turning back.
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