“Korea has grown wealthier, so return Japan’s assets” ... Kyoungduk Seo says Japanese professor’s claim “invites international disgrace”

[Financial News] A professor emeritus at Japan’s Waseda University has drawn public outrage by arguing that property owned by Japan and Japanese nationals at the end of the war should be returned, citing South Korea’s economic growth.
On the 19th, Kyoungduk Seo, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, introduced a post that Tetsuo Arima, professor emeritus at Waseda University, had published on X on the 13th and criticized it as “nothing more than a far-fetched claim.”
Earlier, Professor Arima wrote in the post that “assets owned by Japan and Japanese nationals after the end of the war were given free of charge to local Koreans by the U.S. military,” and claimed that “this violated international law, which says property rights must not be infringed upon because of war.”
He also claimed that, under the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Agreement, Japan provided economic cooperation funds and loans on a scale comparable to South Korea’s national budget.
He added, “Since South Korea has become wealthier than Japan, I hope a new agreement will be concluded and the assets that Japan and Japanese nationals owned until the end of the war—the so-called vested property—will be returned to Japan and its nationals.”
In response, Professor Seo countered, “The U.S. military did not distribute the assets to individual Koreans; they were transferred to the South Korean government through the U.S. military government.”
Professor Seo claimed that “Arima has long been regarded as a controversial figure, even in Japan.” Seo said Arima drew widespread criticism after posting on his social media account in 2021 that, in effect, “I think it is fine for comfort women to say ‘thank you’ to Japanese soldiers.” Seo also said Arima caused controversy that July by publishing a book arguing that comfort women had been in voluntary contractual relationships.
Professor Seo sharply rebuked him, saying, “A professor (intellectual) at Japan’s prestigious Waseda University, consumed by an inferiority complex toward South Korea and repeatedly distorting history, is inviting international disgrace.”
He emphasized, “Rather than simply envying the fact that South Korea has now become wealthier than Japan, I hope they will first reflect on the history of why things had to turn out this way.”
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter