Korea vs. Japan - End to the Rivalry

         I've chosen a touchy subject this time... It's about Korea and Japan and my thoughts on the rivalry between the two countries. I'm not an expert on the Japanese opinion on Koreans but I do know how most Koreans feel about Japan very well. Here's my view: I have no intentions on justifying the past acts of the Japanese toward Korea but we should leave what's in the past, in the past.

        To stoop down on a more personal level here, it's more heartbreaking to me to see Christian Koreans holding ugly grudges against the Japanese. Growing up in a Christian family (and now that I myself am a Christian), I've been told that Japan's actions to Korea is definitely something to have hard feelings about, but as Christians, we forgive and forget. So that's the first thing I was told as a young child regarding Japan and Korea, and it still influences my mindset today. I've seen very beastly and cruel emotions toward Japan from Koreans, Christian Koreans too, and it frustrates me. The Japanese are also human, you and I are also human, we're all imperfect. If we all held ugly grudges for the afflictions done on us, each of us would all hate each other.

       Now, don't jump to conclusions because I'm not done yet. I've seen pictures and films of how the Japanese treated the Koreans, I've teared up over them, I know how serious it all was. I have yet more to learn, but I've seen enough to understand on some level why the Koreans hate the Japanese so much. So no, I am not going against my own country (I'm a freakin' nationalist for Korea - take a look at my other blog posts!), but I don't see why I should go against Japan, either. Unless the whole country of Japan still has that mindset which drove them to brutally conquer Korea back then, then that would be problematic, but that's not the case. I've made beautiful friendships with some Japanese people, yes, this is possible between a Korean and a Japanese person!

        I said that I'm not an expert on the Japanese opinion for Koreans, but I've heard that they didn't exactly have good feelings toward Koreans either, but the Hallyu wave (Korean wave) has changed Japanese opinions on Korea positively. 

        So there's this feud going on between Korea and Japan and although I can't persuade the whole country of Korea, I just ask that the modern generation not be so deeply caught up with the hard sentiments. Hard sentiments do not lead to anything good. We need some more people to forgive and forget.


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