Peace never stands on the arrogant shoulders of military might. It comes only through a peaceful path of cooperative efforts among the parties concerned, which restrain the temptation of military buildup on any side. War cannot put the end to the war, but just ruins the precious achievements of civilization. No one could dispute the fact that peace is the foundation of genuine prosperity of humanity as a whole.

When you look at the military map of North East Asia, you will discover a bizarre emergence of critical tension between China and Japan, as well as the U.S. and China. Korea is just in the midst of this hegemonic struggle among the powerful nations. Under this circumstance, peace might be threatened and devastating consequences could be expected. We never want this as a real scenario.

What seriously darkens the picture of North East Asia is that the Japanese government under the leadership of Prime Minister Abe is obsessively trying to open the way for Japan to arm itself with military forces able to wage war. The 9th article of Japanese Constitution outlaws war as a means to settle conflicts involving the state. This constitutional statement undoubtedly prohibits Japan to have military forces capable of waging war.

However, Abe’s government of Japan has continuously attempted to revise that particular article of the Constitution, while justifying the war history of Japan of the last 20th century. He denied the criminality of the Japanese war against the people of Asia and legitimized the cause of the war as a holy and just war in defense of co-prosperity of Asia against the Western imperialism. Abe never mentioned the historical factuality that Japan was the only imperialist nation in Asia, when it inflicted a massive amount of damage to the lives of Asian people in the early and middle phase of the 20th century.

Korea and China could never forget the inhumane aggression of Japanese imperialism upon them. The historical records of the Japanese colonial violence with massacres and war atrocities have not been erased at all. Enslaving many Asian women sexually for the Japanese forces is undeniable facts. When the Asia-Pacific war was finished, the disarmed Japan was required to make a critical self-reflection of its past and produce an authentic apology to the people of Asia. Unfortunately, Japan has not fulfilled the requirement yet and tried to reverse the course of historical development with increased military potential as well as with the publication of distorted history text books. The region of North East Asia is again on the dangerous edge of turmoil because of Japanese war capabilities and its historical perspective that never learned the lesson from the past.

China has clarified a very sensitive response to this situation with several forms of diplomatic warning to Japan. But Japan did not retreat. Why? Since the U.S. has given strong support to the Abe government’s policy of militarization, Japan seems to be confident in its choice of course. Ironically, the party which shaped the basis of the 9th article of Japanese Constitution is the U.S., when it sustained a military government in Japan after the war between 1945 and 1953. The U.S. was then the hegemonic power that executed a policy of democratization of post-war Japan, while disarming the fascist and imperialist Japanese society.

Now the U.S. has changed its track of policy toward Japan, which has helped in transforming the nation from a militarily weak country to powerful auxiliary forces that could back up the U.S. strategy against a rapidly growing China. Abe’s government did not fail to capture this chance to make Japan an equal and indispensable partner of the U.S. that tried to constrain the growth of China by strategic encirclement or a new version of containment policy of the Cold War period.

In this context, we have witnessed a strengthened U.S. - Japan military alliance. What is bewildering Korea most is the request or pressure by the U.S. to join this system of strategic hostility against China which plays a role of significant trading partner of Korea. Geopolitically speaking, if Korea is forced to situate itself in the position of military adversary against China, the Korean peninsula instantly becomes the hot spot of war, sacrificing the benefit of economic cooperation between Korea and China.

From the world system perspective, U.S. hegemony is now relatively waning compared to the past glory of super power and takes a defensive posture toward the Chinese expansion of global influences. Japan has experienced a continuously decreasing status in the international system of economy. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand the strategic motives behind the U.S. and Japan to form a stalwart alliance or coalition to fortify their position in the region of North East Asia.

However, military build up such as the U.S. - Japan alliance involving Korea only increases a possibility of war and makes the immense benefits of international cooperation utterly futile. Without peace, there is no prosperity. Without cooperation, there is only enmity that will ultimately destroy the basis of civilization. Which do we need to choose?

Peace-making efforts require an uncommon wisdom and courage from awakened citizens of the globe including you and me. The day, September 21, has been annually observed as the World Peace Day, which was proudly initiated by the founder of our KHU, Dr. Choue Young-seek, in 1981 at the UN. We have such a great tradition to contribute to the world peace. We belong to that tradition and have inherited courage to make peace, here and now.