Korean president PARK Geun-hye requested China’s cooperation in building a statue of AN Jung-geun, the leader of the Korean independence movement, in Harubin City in China. An Jung-geun is a hero in Korea, but, having assassinated the first Japanese Prime Minister, ITO Hirobumi in 1909, in Japan he is a criminal – Harubin is the scene of the crime. Now about 70 years have passed since World War Two and Koreans in the USA are criticizing Japan’s awareness of history in cooperation with their government by constructing bronze statues all over America of military comfort women. Before the war, Japan forcibly annexed the Korean peninsula, but after losing the war, Korea gained independence. After that, Korea achieved outstanding economic growth by making use of vast sums of reparation money from Japan and has made strong economic ties with Japan. Then, as a Korean drama and K-pop boom took place in Japan, cultural exchanges have been lively, laying the foundations for good relations between citizens. However, due to the Korean government’s recent anti-Japan stance, the affinity that had been sprouting in the hearts of Japanese is turning to antipathy. Shin-okubo, Tokyo’s so called “Korean Town” is crowded with fans of Korean pop culture, but hate speeches against Korea often take place nowadays.　 On the other hand, Abe’s cabinet is advancing measures to strengthen national power, and looks as if it is antagonizing Korea and China – that have joint anti-Japan stances over the question of territory and historical awareness. In December he created quite a stir by visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where those who died in the war, including war criminals, are commemorated. Politicians have an important duty to work for peace, but the current leadership, not having personally experienced the horrors of war, is destroying the good relations built up by citizens and increasing tensions instead. Putting things into context, the media reports that the income gap has widened in Korea and China more than it has in Japan and there is growing dissatisfaction with the government. Governments create imaginary enemies to distract people from political failures and stir citizens up through government controlled media. Before long politicians who have stirred up the populace, themselves have to react and the pattern is repeated, leading to war. What’s required now is that the leaders of respective nations have an awareness of true history. (From February issue, 2014 / 2014年2月号より）