Chapter 464
No one could have expected the issue of the claims agreement with Japan to come up in a meeting meant to discuss the demolition of the Mount Kumgang tourist facilities.
Perhaps for that reason, everyone in the meeting hall, from both the North and the South, wore complex and subtle expressions.
Vice Chairman Ri Hae-yong and the North Korean delegates, who had been about to storm out of the meeting, were now somehow seated again. While their expressions remained firm, it was clear their ears were wide open. The same was true for the South Korean delegates, including the Minister of Unification.
Everyone was staring only at my mouth with curious eyes.
Back when I was receiving political education in the military about how North Korea were the bad guys, I never could have imagined a day would come when I would be the center of attention at an inter-Korean ministerial-level meeting.
In any case, I continued.
"In the past, Japan invaded many Asian countries, including Korea, and paid reparations for it after their defeat. The money South Korea received at the time was a mere 600 million dollars, including loans and private aid. This amount is even less than the 800 million dollars the Philippines received. It's an absurdly small sum for the price of being exploited under colonial rule for over 30 years."
Of course, that money was an enormous help to the post-war economic revival. It was as if a seed money of 600 million dollars was multiplied a hundred, a thousand times over.
But that doesn't change the fact that we received too little. What's even more absurd is that this wasn't reparations, but grant aid and loans.