2
1st. Monday. 朝雨晩陰 F. 58°. (癸未 正月 二十五日)
3
Seoul home. Little rain last night.
4
The so-called round table conference was a dead failure. Was it a trap to catch the Koreans who dared entertain certain notions not altogether agreeable to the fastidious taste of the watchful police? If so, both Jang Duk Soo and Jo Byong Ok stepped into the trap all right. I have no great respect for Jo Byong Ok but Jang Duk Soo speaks Japanese fluently and ought to know the psychology of Japanese. He should never have said anything about or against the propaganda(or 宣塼) programs. The military authorities in whose hands the fate of Japan hangs in terrible suspense knows better than Jang Duk Soo what war news or pictures to release and what news or pictures to withhold. We outsiders have no right to suggest anything.
5
As to Japan’s attitude toward the final settlement of the political status of the regions now occupied by the Japanese forces, I don't think that the Cabinet ministers themselves have any clear-cut plans or programs as yet―certainly not until the last gun has been fired and the first word of peace negotiations shall have been uttered by the envoys of the warring nations. For a Korean to demand or suggest such a declaration is altogether presumptuous. Hence in my opinion Jang committed a blunder.
6
But Jo Byong Ok's suggestion that the youth of Korea should be given hopes for winning positions of honor and fortune on equal terms as the Japanese―what was wrong about it? Hear what General Hada said in answer to Jo B.O. "To make a Japanese subject the Prime Minister or an envoy or an ambassador is the sacred prerogative of His Majesty, the Teno. As his loyal subjects we ought to do our duty, to our level best never thinking about any remuneration for our efforts. The brave soldiers who are fighting the battles of the Empire in frigid zones as well as under the tropical sun to the last drop of their blood never think of the gold-hawk (金鶴) decoration. The Koran youth ought to do no less." This was a dignified and perfectly correct answer―a Japanese general can't afford to say anything less or more than that.
7
However, the leaders of Japan's thoughts and policies should remember certain stubborn facts in addressing to or dealing with the Korean people in general and the Korean youth in particular. What are they?
8
1. The vast majority of the Korean population up to date were not born Japanese subjects. Those Koreans who are older today than 34 or upward were born under the Korean flag, the subjects of the Korean King. They had their own nationality and their own government whose officers from the Prime Minister to the humblest clerk were all Koreans. More than that they have had a written history that dates back centuries before the official date of the Foundation of the Japanese Empire. To ask the Koreans to forget to wipe-out from their memory the history, traditions and sentiments that have been ingrained into their very soul for last 30 centuries to make room for everything Japanese is not reasonable, is not wise. Remember that the Koreans had been adopted into the great family of Japan only 34 years ago and that several years before the last King or Emperor of Korea died.
9
2. Owing more to the necessary changes and adjustments which the absorption of one historical kingdom by another must bring about than to any evil intentions of the absorber, the Koreans have been made to feel that Japan has acted like a stepmother having a large brood of her own children. It is perfectly natural that she should love her own children first and the step-children last. The harsh and hard discriminations which the Japanese rulers practice in the distribution of official positions and even in the unjustifiable limitation of number of Korean students to 15 or 20 percent in the Government colleges have been the main cause of discontent among the Koreans―especially of the youth of Korea.
10
3. The most intelligent sections of Koreans know and admit that the Koreans have only one way or means for self-preservation and for future advancement in this Hitler and Stalin cursed world. That is by being as thoroughly assimililated into the national system of the gallant Japanese Empire, as Scotland has been assimilated into the national system of England. For the good of Japan and Korea I do hope and pray that the wise leaders of Japan shall made Korea a Scotland of Japan and never, no never, an Ireland of Japan.
|
