SJ comments

The idea is absurd that the verdict of S. Korean court on a civil case could be influenced by political factors or the S. Korean administration. I am not quite sure about the Japanese justice system, but it is virtually impossible that the judges consider international politics in making a verdict on domestic civil case. S. Korean courts are not an ICJ. The principle of separation of legal, administrative, and judicial powers is concretely established in S. Korea whose people have once impeached her president throughout all legal processes.

Anybody who meddles in the justice system with political motivations will be indicted and punished in S. Korea. Even the former supreme court chief justice was arrested and indicted. For example: http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/879734.html

Some people may argue that this case shows that S. Korean justice system is corrupted, but I think it demonstrates it is functioning correctly, contrary to Japan where no such case has been reported, seemingly perfectly clean (but the recent dramatic Ghson's case indicates the opposite).

The assassination by a drone within a sovereign country during peace time was only possible because Iran does not have nuke. Can the U.S. do the same in North Korea? I would bet "No".

Japan never disappoints me. Again, it is always amazing.

Anyway, Japan is an amazing country again in every aspect.

@Do the hustle

Anybody who uses physical punishment against a child should go back to living in the trees because they have not evolved passed a chimpanzee.

Human species are far more violent than chimpanzees. Probably, Homo sapiens sapiens is the most violent species ever in the entire history of Earth. They kill each other.

Violence inherits violence. It is contagious.

I would not be surprised that 70% of Japanese adults still believe corporal punishment is necessary. Japanese still do not understand fully why their ancestors were defeated in the war with American soldiers who were trained virtually without any corporal punishment.

Common-sense people already knew that the 2015 agreement was just a rhetoric political agreement between Park and Abe announced through two press conferences. I already post this here in Japantoday.com several times. I wrote that it was not a treaty in an iota of sense. South Korea’s Constitutional Court just confirmed this common sense, as so many people of both Korean and Japan were brainwashed by their own media. It takes time to reveal the truth.

Still, some Japanese and Korean media imply that this is a kind of politically-motivated concession of S. Korea. But reading carefully the verdict, it is more serious than ignorant Korean and Japanese journalists believe. The verdict basically says that the 2015 agreement is non-existential in the legal terms because it is a void contract.

Fighto!Today  03:55 pm JST

Key ally of Moon, hmm?

Unlike Japan, the president of the S. Korean administration can not meddle in the judiciary, as S. Korea follows the rule of separation of legal, administrative, and judicial powers as in most of other democratic countries around world. It he does, he would be impeached, and S. Korea has a precedent of impeaching the president by the law.

I do not like beer so much, but I loved local ale beer in Japan, especially in the Sapporo area. Admittedly, the lager beer brands mass-produced in S. Korea are the worst in the world. Therefore I never drink lager. I sometimes drink the following Korean local ale or IPA: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/south-korea-craft-beer-magpie-brewing/index.html

The best alcohol beverage from Japan to me is Sweet potato shōchū (芋焼酎, imojōchū), which never has been officially imported to S. Korea.

Usually I do not like comments from N. Korea, but admittedly, sometimes they are so much straightforward without any diplomatic restraint to say something that any other country would dare to say. Yes. I have to agree that Abe is 'imbecile and political dwarf'.

I guess it would take decades for Japan to reveal the truth. Obfuscation is a feature in Japanese diplomacy. For example:

After decades of obfuscation, Japan stated today for the first time that bungling within the Foreign Ministry 53 years ago was responsible for Japan's failure to declare war on the United States before launching its attack on Pearl Harbor.

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/21/world/japan-admits-it-bungled-notice-of-war-in-41.html

History repeats.

FYI, Japanese legal experts have voiced a consistent opinion supporting the ruling of Korean supreme court:

https://webronza.asahi.com/politics/articles/2018112000004.html

http://justice.skr.jp/lecture.htm

http://justice.skr.jp/statement.html

Only Japanese politicians, the controlled media such as Sankei, and brainwashed, obedient people have refuted it.

Moon never compliments himself as Trump and Abe do. For example:

“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace,” Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries, according to a presidential Blue House official who briefed media.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea-trump/south-korea-president-says-trump-deserves-nobel-peace-prize-idUSKBN1I10OD

decades of acrimony over their wartime past

The essence of the problems regarding the wartime past is that Japanese leaders have successfully brainwashed their people.

For example,

Absent is a complete record of her imperial ambitions in the neighboring countries of China and Korea, of her provocation and slaughter in the former, and subjugation of the latter.

But old habits are hard to break. Effective authority seeped back to the Ministry in the 1950s and '60s as it took increasing advantage of a textbook screening law passed in 1949 for the original purpose of preventing the inclusion of ultranationalist indoctrination in teaching material. Turning this authority on its head, the Ministry eventually applied it to weaken textbooks' descriptions of Japan's wartime deeds. The Ministry also started. to supply local school districts with textbooks free of charge. Today, the local boards are free to decline a particular text, but only from a selection approved by Tokyo. The national government remains firmly in control of the material taught throughout the land. 

https://www.heritage.org/asia/report/the-pearl-harbor-anniversary-japan-still-says-dont-blame-me

University student Mayako Shibata told McClatchyDC in 2014 she "can’t remember any class where she learned why the attack on Pearl Harbor happened. 

https://www.ranker.com/list/how-pearl-harbor-is-taught-in-japan/kellen-perry

After decades of obfuscation, Japan stated today for the first time that bungling within the Foreign Ministry 53 years ago was responsible for Japan's failure to declare war on the United States before launching its attack on Pearl Harbor.

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/21/world/japan-admits-it-bungled-notice-of-war-in-41.html

No change at all ever since the 17-th century.

@MkoreaMwafrika

You are right - to an extent, that I may not know everything about the deranged Korean president Moon Jae-in.

What I do know is that he is patently inept and grossly incompetent.....(snip)

Your long post just demonstrates that S. Korea is a democratic country where the government is ready to listen various thoughts and opinions of all kinds of people. S. Korea is not so much uniform and homogeneous in political views among people compared with Japan. S. Korea is an open society where political leaders are ready to listen their opponents, not curb them.

If you have time, you may compare political views of newspapers in Korea and Japan. I can say that most conservative Korean newspapers are more anti-Moon and pro-Abe than Sankei.

@Samit Basu

Thanks for your info. Some Korean newspapers started to report on it:

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=001&oid=469&aid=0000442573

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=001&oid=023&aid=0003488829

@MkoreaMwafrika

In my native Swahili we have a saying: Debe tupu haliachi kuvuma -- translation; an empty container makes the loudest noise.

You know nothing about the S. Korean president Moon. Moon is famous for his quiet diplomacy contrary to Trump and Abe.

https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2018-moon-jae-in-runner-up/

China hates the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system deployed in S. Korea so much to retaliate economically, and S. Korea has endured all economic loss and suffering. Why does the U.S. military want it to be in S. Korea?

Owing to the bases in S. Korea, the U.S. can detect a possible missile launching from Beijing to the N. America in 7 seconds. In Japan, it takes 7 minutes, and 15 minutes in the N. America.

At least, S. Korea never asked the rental fee for the bases including the THAAD base of the U.S. military.

It is surprising that at least Japanese no longer barter.

@juminRhee

You have never read Korean newspapers. Major conservative Korean newspapers are now more pro-Japanese and anti-Moon than Japanese newspapers. Their tones of arguments are exactly the same as Sankei. Just one example: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2019/08/29/2019082901566.html

@dougthehead13

The education system of Japan has been notorious in the world. The problem lies in Japanese history education in school, not in Korean schools.

For example,

Absent is a complete record of her imperial ambitions in the neighboring countries of China and Korea, of her provocation and slaughter in the former, and subjugation of the latter.

But old habits are hard to break. Effective authority seeped back to the Ministry in the 1950s and '60s as it took increasing advantage of a textbook screening law passed in 1949 for the original purpose of preventing the inclusion of ultranationalist indoctrination in teaching material. Turning this authority on its head, the Ministry eventually applied it to weaken textbooks' descriptions of Japan's wartime deeds. The Ministry also started. to supply local school districts with textbooks free of charge. Today, the local boards are free to decline a particular text, but only from a selection approved by Tokyo. The national government remains firmly in control of the material taught throughout the land. 

https://www.heritage.org/asia/report/the-pearl-harbor-anniversary-japan-still-says-dont-blame-me

(.pdf version is available there)

University student Mayako Shibata told McClatchyDC in 2014 she "can’t remember any class where she learned why the attack on Pearl Harbor happened. 

https://www.ranker.com/list/how-pearl-harbor-is-taught-in-japan/kellen-perry

After decades of obfuscation, Japan stated today for the first time that bungling within the Foreign Ministry 53 years ago was responsible for Japan's failure to declare war on the United States before launching its attack on Pearl Harbor.

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/21/world/japan-admits-it-bungled-notice-of-war-in-41.html

Sensible response of a country which they already declared not trustworthy in security? It sounds oxymoronic.

The fact is very simple. Japan de facto retaliated S. Korea first by citing the civilian legal verdict decided by the Supreme court of Korea. Unlike Japan, S. Korean government can not meddle in the judiciary. Contrary to the widespread belief of Japanese, separation of legal, administrative, and judicial powers is already concretely established in S. Korea.

Why is the Japanese media so much interested in the domestic issue of S. Korea?

The resignation of Cho means that demagogues such as Trump are still popular and effective around the world, including S. Korea. The coordinated attacks by the 4 major conservative groups (the media, the prosecutors, the minor Liberty Korea Party, and the corrupted Koreanized Christians) on the reformists (e.g., Moon and Cho) seem to have been successful now, at least momentarily. S. Koreans are as easily brainwashed by the media as Japaneses, at least temporarily.

However, it is not yet ended. Most S. Koreans clearly recognized what is the problems of the media and the prosecutors, which are uncontrollable by the law. A new legislation is required to reform the prosecutors, which will lead to revolutionary changes in press companies, whose influence and finance has dwindled during the past 20 years due to the internet and the Social Network System. Unlike the U.S., in which most newspaper companies went bankrupt (e.g. Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune, and even the Washington Post, only rescued by Jeff Bezos), most of Korean media companies have surprisingly survived well. The SNS is increasingly influential in S. Korea whereas the traditional newspaper companies continue to loose their subscribers. However, oddly, the newspapers are still prosperous in S. Korea (and Japan, too).

If you can guess how they could survive so well, you now understand the political topography of S. Korea, and its future.

The weak Yen has boosted Japanese tourism industry. I am curious how further Abe administration can maintain the weak Yen. I guess the Japan Inc. is on the brink of bankruptcy.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/02/20/japan-foreign-tourism-boom/80569424/

@Triring

ICBMs travels at 20 times the speed of sound.

Irrelevant information. Do you really believe that Russia and China (Maybe NK) ) are interested in or willing to use ICBMs to attack Japan?

Yes. Technically ICBMs can be used to attack a rabbit in Fuji mountain.

The territorial claim of the Japanese government on Takeshima is comical. Japanese people know what 'Takeshima' literally means: bamboo island 竹島, but there is no bamboo in Takeshima.

But, there is another small island called 'bamboo island' (Jukdo 竹島 in Korean) at 2 km (1 mile) east of Ulleungdo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jukdo_(island)

You may see those abundant bamboos there: https://wayfaringflaneur.com/2018/09/02/jukdo%EC%A3%BD%EB%8F%84-bamboo-island/

Japanese government never mentions this real bamboo island (Jukdo in Korean) when they explain their territorial claim. They intentionally omit it, or obfuscate it with Ulleungdo. For example:

https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/takeshima/position.html

https://www.mofa.go.jp/a_o/na/takeshima/page1we_000057.html

Long times ago, Japanese fishermen certainly recognized the existence of Jukdo 竹島 near Ulleungdo island. At that time, Takeshima did not designate the Liancourt Rocks, but Jukdo to Japanese fishermen. Both Jukdo and Ulleungdo are now Korean territories that Japan and the other countries acknowledge. Now the Japanese government claims the territorial right with a wrong name or a wrong location.

There are 7 Japanese islands called as the same name Takeshima (竹島 bamboo island) along the coast of Japan, and all of them have bamboo:  https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AB%B9%E5%B3%B6 

But only one exception is the remotely-located Liancourt Rocks,called 'Dokdo' in Korean, which literally means a rock island.  It is a consistency problem. Koreans knew that it consisted of rocks, and therefore bamboo could not grow there. The so-called bamboo island without any bamboo was just an imaginary island for Japan to forcefully occupy Dokdo. Now they still shout "the bamboo island without any bamboo is a Japanese territory". What a farce!

The territorial claim of the Japanese government on Takeshima is comical. Japanese people know what 'Takeshima' literally means: bamboo island 竹島, but there is no bamboo in Takeshima.

But, there is another small island called 'bamboo island' (Jukdo 竹島 in Korean) at 2 km (1 mile) east of Ulleungdo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jukdo_(island)

You may see those abundant bamboos there: https://wayfaringflaneur.com/2018/09/02/jukdo%EC%A3%BD%EB%8F%84-bamboo-island/

Japanese government never mentions this real bamboo island (Jukdo in Korean) when they explain their territorial claim. They intentionally omit it, or obfuscate it with Ulleungdo. For example:

https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/takeshima/position.html

https://www.mofa.go.jp/a_o/na/takeshima/page1we_000057.html

Long times ago, Japanese fishermen certainly recognized the existence of Jukdo 竹島 near Ulleungdo island. At that time, Takeshima did not designate the Liancourt Rocks, but Jukdo to Japanese fishermen. Both Jukdo and Ulleungdo are now Korean territories that Japan and the other countries acknowledge. Now the Japanese government claims the territorial right with a wrong name or a wrong location.

There are 7 Japanese islands called as the same name Takeshima (竹島 bamboo island) along the coast of Japan, and all of them have bamboo:  https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AB%B9%E5%B3%B6 

But only one exception is the remotely-located Liancourt Rocks,called 'Dokdo' in Korean, which literally means a rock island.  It is a consistency problem. Koreans knew that it consisted of rocks, and therefore bamboo could not grow there. The so-called bamboo island without any bamboo was just an imaginary island for Japan to forcefully occupy Dokdo. Now they still shout "the bamboo island without any bamboo is a Japanese territory". What a farce!

The territorial claim of the Japanese government on Takeshima is comical. Japanese people know what 'Takeshima' literally means: bamboo island 竹島, but there is no bamboo in Takeshima.

But, there is another small island called 'bamboo island' (Jukdo 竹島 in Korean) at 2 km (1 mile) east of Ulleungdo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jukdo_(island)

You may see those abundant bamboos there: https://wayfaringflaneur.com/2018/09/02/jukdo%EC%A3%BD%EB%8F%84-bamboo-island/

Japanese government never mentions this real bamboo island (Jukdo in Korean) when they explain their territorial claim. They intentionally omit it, or obfuscate it with Ulleungdo. For example:

https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/takeshima/position.html

https://www.mofa.go.jp/a_o/na/takeshima/page1we_000057.html

Long times ago, Japanese fishermen certainly recognized the existence of Jukdo 竹島 near Ulleungdo island. At that time, Takeshima did not designate the Liancourt Rocks, but Jukdo to Japanese fishermen. Both Jukdo and Ulleungdo are now Korean territories that Japan and the other countries acknowledge. Now the Japanese government claims the territorial right with a wrong name or a wrong location.

There are 7 Japanese islands called as the same name Takeshima (竹島 bamboo island) along the coast of Japan, and all of them have bamboo:  https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AB%B9%E5%B3%B6 

But only one exception is the remotely-located Liancourt Rocks,called 'Dokdo' in Korean, which literally means a rock island.  It is a consistency problem. Koreans knew that it consisted of rocks, and therefore bamboo could not grow there. The so-called bamboo island without any bamboo was just an imaginary island for Japan to forcefully occupy Dokdo. Now they still shout "the bamboo island without any bamboo is a Japanese territory". What a farce!

Hiro Aug. 14  07:08 am JST

Is just precaution.

Yes. It is just precaution. What would the Japanese government say if other countries boycott the Tokyo Olympics for precaution on possible radioactive contamination?