Anti-Japan Tribalism

Anti-Japan Tribalism (반일종족주의, 反日種族主義) is a book written by Lee Young-hoon, Joung An-ki, Kim Nak-nyeon, Kim Yong-sam, Ju Ik-jong, and Lee U-yeon. It was published by Miraesa on July 10, 2019. It was subtitled "The Root of the Korean Crisis" (대한민국 위기의 근원). The Japanese version, published on November 14, 2019, is subtitled "The Root of Japan-South Korea Crisis" (日韓危機の根源).

Anti-Japan Tribalism
AuthorLee Young-hoon, Joung An-ki, Kim Nak-nyeon, Kim Yong-sam, Ju Ik-jong, and Lee U-yeon
Original title반일종족주의; 反日種族主義
CountrySouth Korea, Japan
LanguageKorean, Japanese
PublishedJuly 10, 2019 (Korean edition);
November 14, 2019 (Japanese edition)
Pages413 (Korean edition);
347 (Japanese edition)
ISBN978-89-7087-326-8
OCLC1112360280

The book is based on a series of lectures delivered on the web-based Rhee Syngman TV, of which Lee is the host. As a best-seller in South Korea, it has sold more than 110,000 copies since it was published in July 2019. The Japanese version was published by Bungeishunjū Ltd. in November 2019 and immediately became a bestseller (No. 1 at Amazon on the day of publication[1]). Bungeishunjū announced it had sold 200,000 copies within a week.[2]

Content

Described as "anti-Japan tribalism," the book posits that there is a shamanistic mentality in a small minority of South Korean people who regard Japan as their primary enemy. Such a mentality, the authors argue, gave rise to some anti-Japan arguments among some South Koreans. In the book’s prologue titled "A Country of Lies," Lee Young-hoon speaks critically of the people who lie, the politics which lie, the scholarship of lies, and the trials of lies. According to this book, the lies are particularly noticeable in some instances of the ROK's national history. Lee and the co-authors thus elucidate how a minority of people in their country has created a small number of forged historical accounts.

Essentially, the book argues that the official history of the ROK has never been empirical. Anti-Japanism has been a dogma for a minority in post-independence South Korea. As such, some anti-Japan forgeries were produced to dramatize the ROK's national history. Critical of such a falsification, the book argues that some South Korean scholars, journalists, novelists, artists, activists, and politicians all contributed to this process.

Anti-Japan Tribalism is an attempt by some South Korean scholars to argue that there is distorted historical narrative in their own country. Based on their opinion, the authors discuss some anti-Japan arguments. The book "has a potential to dismantle the ROK's official history, the one that has been taught as right."[3]

Table of contents

The table of contents of this book, in Japanese edition,[4] is as following:

Preface to the Japanese Edition
Preface
Prologue: A Nation of Lies
Part 1: Memory of Tribalism
1. Absurd Arirang
2. A pistol in one hand, a surveying instrument in another hand
3. Did you say they plundered the land?
4. The approach of Japanese colonial administration
5. Myth of “the forced mobilization”
6. Was it really “forced labor” and “slave labor”?
7. Fictiveness of the wage discrimination against Koreans
8. Who are they, special army volunteers?
9. Originally, there was nothing to claim: The truth about the claim agreement
10. Stupid and shameless intrepid opposition against Korea-Japan talks
Part 2: Symbol and Fantasy of Tribalism
11. Inside facts of the myth surrounding Mt. Paektu
12. Dok-do, the supreme symbol of anti-Japan tribalism
13. The truth about the iron stakes myth
14. Dismantling of the former governor-general’s office building: Deleting the ROK's history
15. Fraudulent drama called the liquidation of pro-Japanese vestiges
16. A never ending story: "Compensation! Compensation! Compensation!"
17. Theology of anti-Japan tribalism
Part 3: Comfort Women, a Bastion of Tribalism
18. Comfort women within us
19. Establishment and culture of the registered prostitute system
20. The truth about the issue of Japanese military’s comfort women
21. In more than 40 years after the liberation, the issue of comfort women has not existed
22. Until the day when the Korea-Japan relations fail
Epilogue: Retribution of the Anti-Japan Tribalism
Commentary: A Patriotism Interrogated by "Anti-Japan Tribalism"

Controversy

A confidant of President Moon Jae-in and a short-lived Minister of Justice, Cho Kuk criticized, "This book denies anti-humanist actions conducted by Imperial Japan during the World War II, such as wartime forced labor and sexual slavery," and called it "disgusting" in a Facebook post.[5] Lee Young-hoon responded to Cho's criticism, "it is nasty propaganda that is not worth mentioning." He also said, "I don't think Cho really read my book. He should criticize the book after analyzing its logic and reasoning."[6]

Hong Jun-pyo mentioned on his Facebook, "I think this book is inconsistent with our common sense about the Japan's cadastral surveys, installation of iron stakes, wartime forced labor, and comfort women issues. It seems to be consistent with historical views to support Japanese ruling in Korean Peninsula."[7]

Some people in South Korea are reading this book with the great attention.[8]

As discussed by Lee U-yeon, the book’s coauthor and researcher at the Naksungdae Institute of Economic Research, Japan’s better wages and employment opportunities attracted 100,000 to 200,000 Korean workers each year through the 1930s and the early 1940s. Moreover, there was little wage discrimination during the war, when Japanese companies were in need of Korean workers. No comprehensive criticism of the book has emerged by March 2020, although some reacted with political slander and reiteration of their views, such as insistence upon holding the Japanese government responsible for the mobilization of Korean men and women for the Pacific War.[9]

Footnotes
  1. "Amazon.co.jp Best Sellers: The most popular item in the book" (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. 2019-11-28. Archived from the original on 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  2. "『反日種族主義』日本の部数が20万部突破 日韓両国で議論沸騰 著者来日会見も決定 | ニュース". 文藝春秋BOOKS (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  3. "A book with an epoch-making significance". www.amazon.co.jp.
  4. "『反日種族主義 日韓危機の根源』李 栄薫 編著 | 電子書籍" [Anti-Japan Tribalism E-book]. Bungeishunjū.
  5. "조국 "이영훈 책 '반일 종족주의', 구역질 나는 책" 맹비난". news.chosun.com (in Korean). 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  6. "조국 "구역질 나는 책" 이영훈 "읽어는 봤나"...'반일 종족주의' 뭐길래". 중앙일보 (in Korean). 2019-08-06. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  7. "조국 "구역질 난다"한 이영훈 책, 홍준표도 "비상식적"". 중앙일보 (in Korean). 2019-08-12. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  8. "조국이 "구역질 난다"고 한 책 베스트셀러 1위 올라". news.kmib.co.kr. August 11, 2019.
  9. Allen, Chizuko (March 2, 2020). "BOOK REVIEW: 'Anti-Japan Tribalism: The Root of the Japan-Korea Crisis' by Lee Young-hoon and others". Japan Forward. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
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