re: #394 Decatur Deb

Our office in Yongsan had a host-nation civil servant KGS-12 who went to school under the Japanese occupation. Asked if he could translate a Japanese document, he answered: “I can, but I won’t.”

It was illegal to import Japanese cultural items in SK until the 1990s. Couldn’t even take an Asahi newspaper off the plane. My grad profs talked about the near futility of having joint historical conferences. Things have gotten a lot better, especially among average people, but it’s in PRC, SK, and NK interest to remind the people regularly of the horrors of the Japanese imperial years.