S Korea, Japan to resume security talks despite conflict over history

What's the point? Abe and the cronies are going to continue to attend Yasukuni and make belligerent claims about the war time past... The truth is Korea and China will have no peace until more sensible and reasonable leader come out of Japan's leadership.

You got that backwards, Korea and China will have jo peace until more sensible and reasonable leaders come out of Korea and China's leadership.

You guys are just showing your bias. It's all sides that need to grow up.

The truth is Korea and China will have no peace until more sensible and reasonable leader come out of Japan's leadership.

No argument there

Whats the point as most of the SDF will not fight to help the Republic of Korea? I will not put myself in harms way to help the ROK. Again what is the point? There will be no agrement

You guys are just showing your bias. It's all sides that need to grow up.

I must objectively disagree with this. In essence, the price Korea and China want from Japan for good relations is effectively a sovereignty infringement (restrictions on freedom of speech, making their preferred version of history the official version ... etc, abandonment of territorial claims).

The two are NOT equal.

And what Japan wants is to pretend that it never did anything bad, even though it did.

Both sides need to grow up.

@StrangerlandAPR. 11, 2015 - 11:59AM JST

And what Japan wants is to pretend that it never did anything bad, even though it did.

I've always wondered ... why does disputing certain claims, for example, comfort women or even the Nanking Massacre; or arguing there are good influences as well get turned into a blanket denial of doing anything bad?

Besides, even if that's so, the concept of a sovereign country means that they can handle their history education however they want it. To demand otherwise is an infringement of sovereignty.

I've always wondered ... why does disputing certain claims, for example, comfort women or even the Nanking Massacre; or arguing there are good influences as well get turned into a blanket denial of doing anything bad?

Ok, show me some examples of the right-wingers admitting that Japan did any wrong.

Besides, even if that's so, the concept of a sovereign country means that they can handle their history education however they want it.

Sure they can, same as Korea and China, being sovereign nations, have the right to keep demanding that Japan show proper contrition. It goes both ways. So if Japan, Korea and China want to move past this, and move forward without spending time hung up on the past, all three countries need to grow up.

Korea and China shouldn't get to alter Japan's freedom of speech or take more of its money. Other than that, yeah sure, they should all hold hands and sing songs.

why does disputing certain claims, for example, comfort women or even the Nanking Massacre; or arguing there are good influences as well get turned into a blanket denial of doing anything bad?

Because it goes against the flow of a tidal wave of evidence otherwise, that's what

If Japan would not have colonized Korea, Korea peninsula might have been invaded by Russia. If America did not fight in Korea, Korea might have been communized either by China or Russia.

@Christopher

Because it goes against the flow of a tidal wave of evidence otherwise, that's what

Which does not answer my question. Refusal to accept certain parts of your claim sheet, regardless of whether the reason for refusal is objective or not, is not evidence of a wholesale rejection, and should not be equated.

@Strangerland

Ok, show me some examples of the right-wingers admitting that Japan did any wrong.

You are the accuser, not me. Show me some right-winger that says flat out, that Japan didn't do anything wrong.

Sure they can, same as Korea and China, being sovereign nations, have the right to keep demanding that Japan show proper contrition

Actually, arguably they don't. Consider if Korea, China and Japan are individuals. Japan says something that Korea and China find offensive. Korea and China, of course, may offer their evaluation of what Japan said. However, to scream and claim Japan should not say that is effectively to deny Japan's freedom of speech. Do you understand why the burden is uneven here?

Remember good old Voltaire: I disagree with what you say but I defend to the death your right to say it. (or something like that, versions sometimes vary).

China and Korea lacks this perspective.

As politicians are at the top of the foodchain they don't have to listen to anyone. Just hack at the same petty issues of colonial times for decades and reelection is granted. Where I come from shrinks, ( for reference "Sigmund Freud" ), do solve hardboiled riddles.

You are the accuser, not me. Show me some right-winger that says flat out, that Japan didn't do anything wrong.

I pointed out how the right wingers don't want to admit Japan has done anything bad. You are the one claiming that's not true. As such it's up to you to prove me wrong. I already know I'm right.

The people of Japan and South Korea have similar temperament, values and culture. I hope they leave their historical differences behind them and join hands to a peaceful and prosperous future.

"South Korea this week twice summoned Japanese envoys to protest what it saw as an attempt by Tokyo to whitewash its wartime past by making fresh claims to disputed islands."

Japan's 79 year old wartime padt has NOTHING to do with South Korea's unilaeral and illegal occupation of the Liancourt Rocks.South Korea thinks it cn get away with anything by crying about WWII, even though it was never a victim of Imprial Japan like other Asian nations.

Apologies from those who committed war crimes are no longer possible, they are dead or nearly so. There is no need for post war generations to apologize for the misdeeds of their ancestors, only the obligation to learn the historical facts and to acknowledge and condemn acts of inhumanity.

Well you're half right with your post.

There is no need for individuals to apologize for their ancestors. But countries are not people, and countries continue on. There is a need for a country to properly apologize for its wrongs, as the country is still the same. Such needs to be done to ensure it doesn't happen again.

@Strangerland

I pointed out how the right wingers don't want to admit Japan has done anything bad. You are the one claiming that's not true. As such it's up to you to prove me wrong. I already know I'm right.

You ACCUSED the "right wingers" of such. Since you are the accuser, the onus of proof is on you. If you cannot prove this, then you should withdraw your accusation, and perhaps reconsider whether you are right on this one.

There is a need for a country to properly apologize for its wrongs, as the country is still the same. Such needs to be done to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Frankly, I see little or no correlation between apologies and whether it happens again. You are really drinking down the Chinese theory to give this issue unwarranted importance.

You ACCUSED the "right wingers" of such. Since you are the accuser, the onus of proof is on you. If you cannot prove this, then you should withdraw your accusation, and perhaps reconsider whether you are right on this one.

I am right. And it wasn't an accusation, it was a statement of fact.

Frankly, I see little or no correlation between apologies and whether it happens again

As they say, those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.

As they say, those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.

Something we agree on

Are there any green-wingers as opposed to left- or right- wingers in this most permissive of Eastasian entities?