Waseda professor’s bizarre argument: “Now that Korea is wealthy, return property from the Japanese colonial era”

[Financial News] A Japanese Waseda University emeritus professor’s call for Japan and Japanese nationals to have property they owned at the end of the war returned, on the grounds that Korea has become wealthier than Japan, has come to light and sparked controversy.
On the 13th, Tetsuo Arima, an emeritus professor at Waseda University’s Faculty of Social Sciences, posted a lengthy message on his X account (formerly Twitter), saying, “It is unfair not to mention this fact.”
Professor Arima argued, “After the end of the war, assets owned by Japan and Japanese nationals were given to local Koreans free of charge by the U.S. military,” and claimed, “This violated international law, which says that property ownership must not be infringed upon because of war.”
He went on to refer to the San Francisco Peace Treaty, explaining, “Japan was required to endorse these measures taken by the U.S. military and accepted them because it wanted to end the occupation,” and, “The treaty guaranteed that Koreans who had been Japanese nationals retained the assets they owned in Japan.”
He also said, “At the time of the 1965 Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Cooperation between Japan and the Republic of Korea, Korea was provided with economic aid and loans comparable to its national budget.” He added, “Personally, I hope that, now that Korea has become wealthier than Japan, it will conclude a new agreement and return the assets Japan and Japanese nationals owned at the end of the war—that is, vested property.”
Professor Arima is a far-right figure who has continued to deny historical facts concerning the Japanese military’s comfort women and make outrageous remarks. He has also published a book titled “All Comfort Women Had Contracts by Mutual Agreement,” which defends Harvard professor Mark Ramseyer, who has been at the center of controversy over the distortion of comfort women history. A petition campaign has also been held in Japanese academic circles calling for Arima to be dismissed from his professorship over his denial of history and outrageous remarks.
[email protected] Kim Hee-seon Reporter