Thursday, February 15, 2007

land seizure

I remembered "PD sucheob (pocket book)", which is 60 minutes in Korea, covered the land issues of descendants of national traitors. If I remember correctly, those descendants sued for their properties inherited from their ancestors and won the case. I did not know anything about property law but was very angry at the results. Now, I feel much better at the fact that those assets will be confisticated. see this article (Japan collaborators face land seizure).

2 comments:

Erin Robinson said...

I think the concept of a "national traitor" is something interesting. I read an argument in a class on International Organizations, during a discussion on the ICJ and its uses post-conflict, that it was in fact countries who integrated, who did not persecute or prosecute those who collaborated with the losing side, that were more successful in the long term. Of course, these examples were of ethnic or civil conflicts, so they were neighbors, but I think the concept applies. If you create a cycle of vengeance like this, I'm not sure it's healthy for the society, though I certainly understand the motivation. But this is back to my own personal questions about governmental apologies and other matters, both in Japan and the US. It's a different time, a different society, and a different government, which would today never do what it did in the past. But I have no idea what, if anything, could mean something to former comfort women. I also, though, understand a government's reluctance to apologize for acts committed by different individuals, a different government, that that government would never consider.

snowume said...

Even if something was conducted by different people and in the different era, continuity plays a role in this matter.