Contemporary Politics

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The past or the politics of the present? Dealing

with the Japanese occupation of South Korea

Roman David

To cite this article: Roman David (2016) The past or the politics of the present? Dealing
with the Japanese occupation of South Korea, Contemporary Politics, 22:1, 57-76, DOI:
10.1080/13569775.2015.1112953

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2015.1112953

Published online: 26 Nov 2015.

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 CONTEMPORARY POLITICS, 2016
VOL. 22, NO. 1, 57–76
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2015.1112953

The past or the politics of the present? Dealing with the

Japanese occupation of South Korea
Roman David
Department of Sociology and Social Policy, Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Why do historical legacies continue to burden politics in East Asia? Collective memory;
According to major schools of thought on collective memory, transitional justice; apology;
perceptions of historical injustice may be determined by the past South Korea
(traditionalism), the present (presentism) or the interplay of both.
This paper assesses the validity of these theories by examining
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the effect of transitional justice on perceptions of wrongdoers.

Transitional justice offers a unique substrate for exploring
competing theories of collective memory as it represents a
contemporary process for dealing with the past. Were transitional
justice to transform perceptions of wrongdoers, it would provide
evidence supporting presentism. This hypothesis was tested using
a survey of 640 adults from the Gallup Korea online panel. South
Korea was selected as a research site because the legacy of
Japan’s occupation remains unresolved. A Tobit analysis
supported presentist approaches although, as traditionalists claim,
perceptions of wrongdoers were resistant to change. The organic
nature of collective memory suggests that perceptions can only
be transformed by comprehensive transitional justice.

Introduction
Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea (hereafter South Korea) have long
been burdened by the recurring theme of historical injustice related to wrongdoing by
Japan during its occupation of the Korean Peninsula. Koreans cite the unresolved issue
of compensation for ‘comfort women’, trivialisation of war atrocities in Japanese text-
books, the lack of an unreserved apology and high profile visits to the Yasukuni Shrine,
which they see as a glorification of war crimes (Bridges, 1993; Lee, 1985; Schwartz &
Kim, 2010). The Japanese claim that they have apologised to Korea on numerous occasions
and reached a financial settlement with Korea (Umezu, 2000). The lack of interstate recon-
ciliation is manifested at the individual level, affecting interpersonal and business relations
between ordinary Japanese and Koreans (Schwartz & Kim, 2010). Can these differences be
successfully resolved? Is it the past that shapes the perceptions of ordinary Koreans about
the Japanese? Or is it the present that creates obstacles to mutual understanding?
Underlying these questions is the important theoretical debate about the origin of col-
lective memory. Does collective memory stem from the past or is it a function of the

CONTACT Roman David roman.328@gmail.com

© 2015 Taylor & Francis
 58 R. DAVID

present? Do collective memories persist more or less unchanged or are they malleable and
responsive to contemporary conditions? The issue of rigidity or malleability divides two
major schools of thought on collective memories. According to the first school of
thought, called ‘constructivism’, ‘instrumentalism’ or ‘presentism’, memory is a function
of contemporary factors, interests and conditions; according to the second school of
thought, called ‘realism’, ‘essentialism’ or ‘traditionalism’, memory is a function of the
past (Aguilar, 1996/2002; Olick, 2007; Schwartz, 1991; Schwartz & Kim, 2010). Both
schools of thought have put forward compelling arguments for their position.
Although presentism seems to be gaining momentum in the debate, the traditionalism
has not disappeared from the academic debates. ‘The persistence of the past’ has been
reflected in various ‘third ways’ in the study of collective memory.1 Schwartz (1996) has
come to a broader understanding of memory as a cultural system, which matches publicly
accessible models of the past to the experiences of the present. Olick’s (1999) dialogical
approach sees collective memory as a path-dependent process of interactions between
the present and the past.
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The recent surge in research into transitional or historical justice (hereafter, the terms
‘transitional justice’ and ‘historical justice’ are used interchangeably) has provided a new
opportunity to examine fundamental questions about the origin of collective memory
and its malleability (see Booth, 2001; de Brito, 2010; Gibson, 2004). Transitional justice,
which can be defined as a set of measures devised to deal with the past (see e.g. Elster,
2004; Kritz, 1995; Teitel, 2000), is uniquely capable of shedding light on current percep-
tions of historical wrongdoing; they allow one to determine whether perceptions of
wrongdoers are based on the wrongdoing per se or on contemporary processes for
dealing with it.
Evidence that historical justice can change Korean perceptions of the Japanese would
support the presentist school of thought; if the process of historical justice cannot change
perceptions of wrongdoing, we must accept the validity of traditionalism. However, it
would be premature to simply hypothesise that a variation in transitional justice would
result in a corresponding variation in perceptions about the wrongdoer. The logic of
linear models seldom comprehends social reality (see Abbott, 2001, pp. 38–59). Memories
are said to resist changes (Schudson, 1992), although it is debatable whether their resist-
ance stems from past events or present interests. Cases like the Mothers of the Plaza de
Mayo reveal a complex relationship, in fact a setback for the transitional justice project
in Argentina, where many victims were reluctant to accept ‘blood money’ that would com-
pensate their familial losses (Jellin, 2003). Whatever the amount of money offered, we may
find no effect of financial compensation. We could then wrongly dismiss transitional
justice, or one of its components, as a viable policy of conflict resolution, and erroneously
gather evidence against presentism. Hence, we also need to assume that collective
memory is a complex system involving the past and the present as theorised in the scho-
larship of ‘the third way’. In other words, the past may affect reconciliation under specific
conditions in the present.
This study examines the effect of transitional (historical) justice processes on South
Koreans’ perceptions of Japanese wrongdoers from the past to resolve the competing
theoretical claims of presentism and traditionalism. The focus of our paper is on the indi-
vidual-level perceptions rather than the interstate reconciliation (see He, 2009); the latter
merely provides us with contextual information about the former.
 CONTEMPORARY POLITICS 59

South Korea is an ideal site for research into the origin of collective memories. Unlike
China, which has a similarly complicated relationship with Japan, Korean citizens enjoy
a democratic system in which they may express their opinions freely and South Korea
has developed a reliable survey infrastructure which enables systematic sampling of
public opinion. Japan occupied – or colonised – the Korean Peninsula between 1910
and 1945; Japanese nationals who committed crimes connected with the occupation
were tried by the international military Tokyo Tribunal and since the mid-1960s Japan
has pursued a policy of normalisation of relations with Korea. This has included giving
financial aid to South Korea and various expressions of regret and apologies, which
were somewhat undermined by numerous denials of responsibility (Bridges, 1993;
Buruma, 1994; Kim & Schwartz, 2010; Lee, 1985).
We devised an attitudinal survey to examine the effect of transitional justice on percep-
tions of wrongdoers. We developed an experimental vignette to gauge responses to three
important components of transitional justice systems: criminal trial, financial compen-
sation and apology (see Druckman, Kuklinski, & Lupia, 2006; Neuman, 2000). The exper-
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iment was embedded in a cross-sectional survey of 640 adult Koreans and was
administered via the Gallup Korea online panel in 2010.

Collective memories and transitional justice

Before any empirical investigation, we need to considerably narrow the scope of the
concept of ‘collective memory’. First, the primary subject of this paper is memory of
wrongdoings which were committed in the political context of a war, colonisation or occu-
pation, or under undemocratic or discriminatory regimes. Unlike personal violence, politi-
cal wrongdoings have structural characteristics including the redefinition of social
boundaries and redistribution of social hierarchies (David & Choi, 2009; Galtung, 1969).
We were interested in what has been termed ‘memory of atrocity’ (Osiel, 1997) or
‘memory of trauma’ (Olick, 2007).
Second, unlike psychological theories of memory which are concerned with remember-
ing per se (see Hirst et al., 2009), theoretical concerns about the rate of forgetting and
accuracy are not relevant to ‘memories’ of political wrongdoing discussed in this paper.
A ‘collective memory’ is one shared by a social group; it is a shared narrative of the past
and reflects the shared beliefs of a social group (Halbwachs, 1925/1992, pp. 52–53;
Schuman, Scott, & Corning, 2000, p. 915).
According to the two major schools of thought on collective memory, a grievance
against historical wrongdoers is based either on the past (traditionalism) or on the
present (presentism). Presentism draws on the intellectual tradition of Halbwachs (1925/
1992) and Hobsbawm (1983) and suggests that collective memory is a function of the
present, determined by present factors, interests, contexts and conditions. If presentism
is correct, Korean perceptions of the Japanese depend on the contemporary political
context, including electoral campaigns, business interests and the political culture in
both countries, and transitional justice measures such as Japanese apologies would be
useful in resolving tensions between the two countries.
The traditionalist school takes a different view of collective memory, holding that the
past is the only or main source of collective memory, that memory is embedded in gen-
erations (Mannheim, 1952), sites (Nora, 1989), traditions, commemorative ceremonies,
 60 R. DAVID

historical records, monuments and holidays (Connerton, 1989; Schudson, 1992; Schuman
& Scott, 1989). Researchers study how memories of the past, which are ‘objectified’ (Olick,
1999) by memorials and records, are transmitted to succeeding generations. According to
the traditionalists, collective memories cannot change fundamentally, especially in
instances where wrongdoing was of historical significance and threatened the survival
of a nation or civilisation (Olick, 1999, p. 345). According to this school of thought,
nothing can change the memory of Japan’s 35-year colonisation of Korea or the use of
Koreans in Japan’s war machinery (Lee, 1985).
Some leading scholars in the field of collective memory have felt constrained by the
dilemma between presentism and traditionalism, and pioneered various third ways.
Schwartz (1996, p. 909), for instance, has revisited some of his previous theorisations
and came to a broader understanding of memory as a cultural system, which matches
publicly accessible models of the past to the experiences of the present (Schwartz,
1996, p. 911). Olick (1999) has introduced the dialogical approach to collective memory
as a path-dependent process of constant interactions between the present and the
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past. If the past puts limits on its present interpretations, then the question is what is
the place of the past in the present?
Transitional justice processes provide us with a unique opportunity to investigate
whether perceptions of wrongdoers are determined by historical events as claimed by tra-
ditionalists, or current processes of dealing with historical injustice as claimed by presen-
tists. Transitional justice encompasses a variety of methods of dealing with the past (see
Stan & Nedelsky, 2013; Teitel, 2000). We have adopted a victim-centred approach in our
classification of transitional justice measures into reparatory, retributive and reconciliatory
measures (David & Choi, 2009).

. Reparatory measures: all measures that attempt to empower victims individually or col-
lectively; typical examples include financial compensation, rehabilitation, restitution of
property, provision of a platform for victims to share their stories freely and social
acknowledgment of wrongdoing. Other material and non-material reparations may
also be involved.
. Retributive measures: all criminal and non-criminal sanctions and penalties applied to
offenders. Criminal punishment, dismissal from employment, relief from duty, depri-
vation of state pension benefits and shaming are typical retributive measures.
. Reconciliatory measures: all measures aimed at promoting a minimal civic relationship
between victims and transgressors based on tolerance and mutual respect including
apology, expression of regret, admission of guilt and confession.

Transitional justice systems can rectify the material consequences of historical injustice
but is this enough to change perceptions of historical injustice? It is clear that the value of
human life and the sacrifices made by victims cannot be valued in terms of the length of a
prison sentence or commodified in terms of the financial compensation paid to a victim.
Nothing can bring back the deceased or erase years of suffering. How can ‘ordinary’ transi-
tional justice be ever possible? In order to demonstrate the validity of presentism we need
to suggest the social mechanisms through which transitional justice can affect perceptions
of the past. The answer is that the potential of transitional justice is based not only on tan-
gible measures, but on their expressive power.
 CONTEMPORARY POLITICS 61

Transitional justice measures take the form of a set of social rituals that preserve the
living memory of the dead and acknowledge the sacrifice of victims (David, 2011). They
‘re-present the dead, open a window to the unreachable past’ (Booth, 2011, p. 760). Finan-
cial compensation empowers victims as individuals and also ‘symbolises the irrevocable
admission that a crime has been committed’ (Sznaider, 2002, p. 109). Similarly, trials not
only impose hardship on perpetrators but are also a condemnation of them and an
acknowledgement of victims’ innocence (Fletcher & Weinstein, 2002; Osiel, 1997). Trials
preserve the memory of victims, perpetrators and the wrongdoing (Booth, 2001).
Finally, in apologising and making other acts of contrition, wrongdoers implicitly
request that victims separate their character and future behaviour from their previous
wrongdoing (Govier, 2002); this is the ultimate acknowledgment of wrongdoing.
The symbolic meaning of transitional justice is also apparent from instances in which
transitional justice is denied. The absence of sanctions against perpetrators has been
claimed to function as a second injury (Chang, 1997; Cullinan, 2001) or a second death
for the victims (Booth, 2011). A denial signifies the continuation of the injustice caused
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by the original wrongdoing and perpetuates adversarial relations between perpetrators

and victims; it constitutes a renewed attack on the dignity of victims and the social
status of the victims’ group.

Hypotheses
This paper examines the impact of transitional justice on popular perceptions of historic
wrongdoers. The effects of transitional justice processes provide evidence relevant to
the different theories about the origin of collective memory. If – as traditionalists claim
– grievances against perpetrators are persistent, transitional justice measures should
have no effect on perceptions of perpetrators. If – as presentists claim – perceptions of
perpetrators are simply a function of the contemporary context, transitional justice
would alter perceptions. If any form of transitional justice – reparatory, retributive or recon-
ciliatory measures – were to produce a change in victims’ perception of wrongdoers, this
would constitute evidence against traditionalism; proving any of the following three
hypotheses would provide evidence for presentism:
H1: The implementation of reparatory measures alters perceptions of wrongdoers.
H2: The implementation of retributive measures alters perceptions of wrongdoers.
H3: The implementation of reconciliatory measures alters perceptions of wrongdoers.

Dealing with Japanese colonisation in South Korea

South Korea, whose territory was occupied – or colonised – by Japan between 1910 and
1945 is an excellent site for research into collective memory. It may even be considered the
ideal site because in East Asia ‘the memory problem’ has infected business, political and
international relationships to an unprecedented extent (Schwartz & Kim, 2010). Nonethe-
less, the benefits of any research site come with the costs inherent in selection of a sample.
A small number of crucial contextual differences may affect the generalisability of findings
based on South Korean observations. There are several reasons why there may be a
greater emphasis on the past in Eastern countries. The ‘shame culture’ is often cited as
 62 R. DAVID

an explanation for the East’s greater sensitivity to humiliation and compared with the ‘guilt
culture’ prevalent in the West (Creighton, 1990). The more collectivist nature of societies in
the East than in the West (Schwartz & Kim, 2010, p. 22) and the culture of worshipping
ancestors which goes hand in hand with the strong emphasis on family (Lee, 1985, p. 9)
also contribute to the greater importance of the past. One might therefore expect that
any death – natural or tragic – would have a more lasting, transcendental meaning in
many Asian cultures, where paying respect to ancestors is an imperative for the descen-
dants, than in the West.2

Historic wrongdoing
South Korean identity is largely defined by opposition to Japan, which occupied the Korean
peninsula from 1910 until the end of the Second World War in 1945. Occupation ‘is always a
humiliating business’ and the occupiers seemed to be aware of that (Buruma, 1994, p. 6). The
Japanese regarded the Koreans as inferiors treating them with the same overbearing atti-
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tude they displayed towards inferiors in Japan (Lee, 1985, p. 4). Inspired by the Russian
empire’s treatment of Poland, the Japanese governorate dissolved all political organisations,
prohibited all meetings, abolished Korean newspapers and confiscated weapons (Lee, 1985).
After the brutal suppression of the March 1919 uprising Japanese repression intensified;
they attempted to eliminate use of the Korean language and Korean surnames, suppressed
Christianity and imposed Shintoism (Bridges, 1993, pp. 6–9; Lee, 1985, pp. 5–13). Repression
intensified still further in the Second World War, with hundreds of thousands of Koreans
being conscripted to work in Japanese industries and over 98,000 men conscripted to
serve in the Japanese army and navy (Lee, 1985, pp. 13–20).
One of the unresolved legacies of the war is that of the so-called comfort women whose
plight was not brought to light until the late 1980s. The term ‘comfort women’ (wianbu in
Korean; ianfu in Japanese) is an official euphemism for victims of sexual slavery – mainly
Korean, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Burmese and Dutch women exploited during Japa-
nese occupation (Hicks, 1994; Howard, 1993/1995; Stetz & Oh, 2001; Yoshimi, 1995/2000).
Out of a total of about 200,000 women and girls, 80–90% were Korean (Chang & Barker,
2001, p. 71; Chin, 1993/1995, p. 16). Women and girls, some as young as 11 years old,
were taken from poor farming families and coerced into sexual slavery in the so-called
comfort stations (Chin, 1993/1995, pp. 16–20; Howard, 1993/1995, p. vii; Yoshimi, 1995/
2000, pp. 103–115). They were given Japanese names and, depending on the comfort
station, forced into as many as dozens of sexual acts every day (Chin, 1993/1995, pp. 20–
21). They suffered rape, violence, mutilation, sexually transmitted diseases, illnesses,
depression and subsequently post-traumatic stress disorder; many became drug users, com-
mitted suicide or suffered other consequences of the trauma (Chin, 1993/1995, pp. 22–24;
Yoshimi, 1995/2000, pp. 146–151). In the 1990s, the ‘comfort women’ became a symbol
of the humiliation of the entire Korean nation during the Japanese occupation. The suffering
of these women has been collectivised as a subject of national shame (Choi, 2001, p. 399).

Transitional justice
The implementation of transitional justice has been a protracted process. Nevertheless,
since the end of the Second World War, we have found evidence that Japan has
 CONTEMPORARY POLITICS 63

implemented reparatory, retributive and reconciliatory measures of transitional justice, as

well as evidence of continuing Japanese denial of wrongdoing.

Reparatory measures
In 1965, after 14 years of negotiations, Japan and South Korea signed the Treaty on Basic
Relations, which was intended to normalise relations between the two countries (Lee,
1985, pp. 43–55). Motivated by economic interests the two sides reached a settlement
that effectively granted South Korea compensation in the form of loans and aid without
referring to it as ‘compensation’ (Bridges, 1993, p. 11; Lee, 1985, p. 54), in exchange
Koreans had to give up their claims for compensation. In spite of domestic opposition,
Japan insisted on the prospective notion of ‘compensation’ and Korea under the military
regime of General Park was keen to receive the package of aid which subsequently kick-
started the rapid economic expansion of Korea (Lee, 1985, p. 67). However, unlike compen-
sation, which is an admission of wrongdoing and a form of atonement, the term ‘aid’
carries entirely different ideological connotations, related to the generosity of the giver
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and the weakness of the recipient (Baehr, 2009).

However, not all compensation claims were nullified by the treaty. Only in the late
1980s, when survivors’ stories and historical evidence started to undermine the Japanese
authorities’ cover-up (Yoshimi, 1995/2000, pp. 37–38) and insensitivity to gender issues in
traditional Korean society began to reduce (Howard, 1993/1995, pp. vi–vii, 5–7), did the
plight of ‘comfort women’ become a political issue. The Japanese government refused
to accept any responsibility or compensate ‘comfort women’ although it encouraged Japa-
nese companies to set up an ‘Asian Women’s Fund’; however, many comfort women felt
that unless it were accompanied by an apology from the Japanese government the ‘sym-
pathy money’ would disgrace them again (Choi, 2001, p. 396).

Retributive measures
Shortly after the war, Japanese war criminals were tried at the International Military Tribu-
nal for the Far East, also known as the Tokyo Trials (Buruma, 1994, pp. 159–176). Many
Japanese witnessed the trials without any reflection on the relevant history; the opportu-
nity to assign guilt to the military leadership, which was one of the intentions of the Allies
when they set up the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, was missed (Hicks, 1998, p. 128). The
historical context of the trials and allegations of ‘victors’ justice’ undermined their legiti-
macy and enabled older and younger generations of Japanese to avoid questions
about responsibility. Nonetheless in Japan, the courts remain a major battlefield in the
struggle over memory of the past (Osiel, 1997, p. 190).
Those responsible for the sexual slavery of comfort women were not punished directly,
except in the case of perpetrators who were convicted of crimes against humanity or other
criminal acts at the Tokyo Trials of class B and C criminals. In 1996 and 1998, respectively, a
special rapporteur for the UN Commission on Human Rights and a special rapporteur for
the UN Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities con-
cluded that the ‘comfort women’ system was a system of military sexual slavery and that
Japan’s government should punish those responsible and compensate the victims
(Yoshimi, 1995/2000, p. 23). In 1996, the US Justice Department enacted the Holtzman
Amendment, which barred those responsible for the establishment and maintenance of
‘comfort stations’ and those who had used them from entering the United States and
 64 R. DAVID

authorised their removal (Lee, 2001, pp. 152–153). In 2000, an informal Women’s Inter-
national War Crime Tribunal was held in Tokyo to consider the criminal liability of Japanese
officials and officers and the Japanese government in cases of rape and sexual slavery
(Chinkin, 2001; Matsui, 2001).

Reconciliatory measures
The history of Japan’s relations with South Korea is a blend of regret and denial, although
considerable movement has occurred since the end of hostility in the 1950s. Although
‘deep regret’ was expressed by the Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone in the early
1980s (Nakasone cited in Bridges, 1993, p. 15), Japan only started to reflect meaningfully
on its past after the death of the wartime emperor, Hirohito, in 1989; his successor Emperor
Akihito apologised for his country’s colonial abuse with a bow to visiting South Korean Pre-
sident Roh Tae Woo (Chang & Barker, 2001, p. 56). In 1992 and 1993 the Japanese govern-
ment admitted involvement in the establishment and maintenance of ‘comfort stations’
(Dahl, 2008, p. 247). In 1995 Prime Minister Murayama apologised for the Second World
War crimes in Asia and also apologised separately to the ‘comfort women’ (Blatz, Schu-
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mann, & Ross, 2009, pp. 225–227). In the same year, the Diet also expressed hansei (reflec-
tion, introspection) about the wartime suffering endured by people in Asian countries
(Chang & Barker, 2001, p. 56). In 2005 Prime Minister Koizumi apologised for Japanese atro-
cities in Asia (Nakashima, 2005) and in 2010, Prime Minister Naoto Kan apologised for the
Japanese occupation of Korea (Fackler, 2010). However, Japan’s admissions of responsibil-
ity and attempts to rectify injustice have been mixed with denials.

Denial
Japan’s policy for dealing with the past has been undermined by a lack of self-reflection in
a continuing debate over the trivialisation of Japan’s role in the Second World War and
manifested in Japanese history textbooks (Hicks, 1998, pp. 44–50; Lee, 1985, pp. 141–
151). Visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by Emperor Hirohito, 15 prime ministers and other poli-
ticians (Mochizuki, 2010, pp. 41, 51) have undermined the policy of apology. Yasukuni is
controversial Shinto shrine domestically as well as internationally, because it enshrines
the ‘souls’ of 14 major (class A) Japanese war criminals and about 1000 other war criminals
(classes B and C) convicted of crimes against humanity at the Tokyo Trials (Chang & Barker,
2001, p. 59). The lack of apology and repeated denials led to weekly protests by surviving
Korean comfort women in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul which have been taking
place since 1992.3

Research design
We tested our hypotheses by means of experimental design. The main independent vari-
ables were operationalised in a series of vignettes which systematically varied descriptions
of a concrete event (Alexander & Becker, 1978). Vignettes are a more effective means of
exploring attitudes to life situations than abstract survey questions about government pol-
icies (Gibson & Gouws, 1999). This design also reduces the problem of endogeneity that
often weakens conclusions based on cross-sectional survey data (Druckman et al., 2006).
The vignette represented a narrative of a historical injustice and potential resolutions.
The vignette was based on 2 × 2 × 2 complete factorial design (see Neuman, 2000). Eight
 CONTEMPORARY POLITICS 65

combinations of compensation, punishment and apology were manipulated and con-

trasted with their denial.

Experimental variables
The experimental vignette consisted of a description of an historic injustice and its resol-
ution through transitional justice. The historic injustice needs to be a well-known example
of Japanese wrongdoing in the Second World War. ‘Comfort women’ remain a significant
social issue in South Korea, so we used a story about a hypothetical Mrs Kim who was a
‘comfort woman’ during the Second World War. ‘Kim’ is a common Korean surname.
Respondents also read about Mr Watanabe, a hypothetical former officer of Japan’s Imper-
ial Army who was responsible for her ordeal. ‘Watanabe’ is one of the most common Japa-
nese surnames. The core of the vignette represented the past and remained constant
across all variants so that we could observe the effects of manipulations of transitional
justice.
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The variants of the vignette manipulated the form of transitional justice which was
implemented. In this paper transitional justice is conceptualised as a set of measures
devised to deal with the past wrongdoing. Transitional justice encompasses reparatory,
retributive and reconciliatory policies, typically taking the form of financial compensation,
punishment or apology, respectively (David & Choi, 2009). In our experiment financial
compensation was operationalised as a donation to the Sharing House, a Buddhist-run
pension house, where some ‘comfort women’ still live (Choi, 2001, p. 401). Punishment
was operationalised as the result of a post-war trial. Thousands of class B or C war criminals
were convicted and punished at the Tokyo Trials and a further 210,000 people were black-
listed and purged (Chang & Barker, 2001; Pritchard, 1995, p. 32) so it is realistic to assume
that our hypothetical Mr Watanabe would have been punished. Apology was operationa-
lised as a personal apology by Mr Watanabe to Mrs Kim. These measures of transitional
justice were contrasted with their absence.
Eight versions of the vignette were developed to capture all possible combinations of
transitional justice and lack of transitional justice. In the most affirmative version respon-
dents were told that Mr. Watanabe was punished, made a financial donation and apolo-
gised to Mrs Kim. In the most negative version respondents were explicitly told that Mr.
Watanabe was not punished, did not donate a gift and did not apologise. Punishment,
compensation and apology were coded (1) and their absence (−1).

Control variables
In order to test our hypotheses effectively, we considered a range of other factors that
might affect perceptions of wrongdoers. Dramas of contestation are played out among
nations, groups, classes and generations who embody particular constellations of mem-
ories. We therefore controlled for socio-demographic factors including gender, age, edu-
cation, income and religion.

Gender
Gender would appear to be an obvious predictor of views about perpetrators of wrong-
doing related to ‘comfort women’. Women may be more sensitive to the plight of other
 66 R. DAVID

women than men. Research has showed that women are more inclined to retain memories
of the women’s movement in the United States (Schuman & Scott, 1989). Rape during war
is an example of rape that seems to assert the supremacy of men over women and
enemies over victims (cf. Choi, 2001, p. 398; MacKinnon, 1993). We predicted that there
would be a significant effect of gender. Gender was coded 0 for women and 1 for men.

Age
Age is another factor that may affect memory of wrongdoing. A new generation may be
born before transitional justice processes are completed. Members of a generation are
‘similarly located … exposed to the same phase of collective process’ (Mannheim, 1952,
p. 297). Every generation tends to retain memories based on the experiences of its forma-
tive years (Schuman & Scott, 1989; Schuman et al., 2000). Different memories of a past
event may coexist in different generations; younger people who are not burdened by
the past (Mannheim, 1952, p. 296) and experienced the completion of transitional
justice processes during their formative years may be more willing to reassess wrongdoers
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than older people who witnessed incomplete transitional justice or a miscarriage of transi-
tional justice whilst they were growing up. According to the formative years thesis, even if
both generations were born after a transgression occurred the older generation may con-
tinue to hold a grievance against the wrongdoers. We therefore predicted that perceptions
of wrongdoers would be more negative in older respondents. Age was coded in years.

Education and income

Education and income might also affect perceptions of wrongdoers. We predicted that
more educated and more affluent Koreans would have more opportunities to interact
with Japanese people, and would thus be more likely to hold views that were not deter-
mined solely by history. Education may exert a traditionalist influence by increasing histori-
cal knowledge or a presentist influence through promotion of intellectual openness
(Schuman et al., 2000, p. 947). Education was shown to be a significant predictor of mem-
ories of several historical events (Schuman & Scott, 1989). We therefore decided to control
for education (5 categories) and income (11 categories). Education was coded as approxi-
mate years of education: elementary school (6), middle school (9), high school (12), college
(16) and graduate school (18). We used 11 categories of education, coded according to
incomes in millions of Korean won per year: less than 1 million won (1), 1–1.99 million
won (2), etc.

Religion
Religion was another potential predictor of memory. Believers may be more willing to give
wrongdoers a second chance than atheists (David & Choi, 2006). According to the 2005
census Buddhism (23%) and Christianity (Protestants 18%; Catholics 11%) are the two
main religions of Korea (Kim, Lee, Son, & Smith, 2009). Although there is no single author-
itative source for Buddhism, it teaches that compassion and forbearance are ideals and
renounces resentment as a source of torment (Rye et al., 2000). Christianity is partly
defined by forgiveness, which may be unconditional or conditional on repentance
(Murphy, 2003). We therefore controlled for Buddhism (coded 1, all else 0) and Christianity
(coded 1; all else 0).
 CONTEMPORARY POLITICS 67

Dependent variables
Perceptions of a wrongdoer relate to the extent to which the wrongdoer is identified with
wrongdoing and to a judgement about the extent to which the wrongdoer has reformed.
We surmise that in the eyes of victims, wrongdoers are defined by memories of their trans-
gression unless this identity is altered by transitional justice processes such as apology and
redress (Govier, 2002; Murphy, 2003; Osiel, 1997). The dependent variable should therefore
reflect opinions of the wrongdoer (Mr. Watanabe), the extent to which he has changed and
his moral development.
We constructed a five-item scale as our dependent variable. After reading the exper-
imental vignette respondents answered five questions about Mr. Watanabe (1) Has he
paid his debt? (2) Has he acknowledged his wrongdoing? (3) Has he learnt from the
past? (4) Has he been exculpated? (5) Should he be forgiven?
The answers were coded on a five-point Likert scale: ‘strongly agree’ (4); ‘agree’ (3), ‘neither
agree, nor disagree’ (2); ‘disagree’ (1); ‘strongly disagree’ (0). The high reliability (alpha = 0.86)
of the five items enabled us to construct a reassessment of wrongdoer scale based on the sum
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of scores for individual items (range 0–20; mean = 5.51; standard deviation = 4.24).

Fieldwork
The fieldwork was divided into three stages. In the first stage a preliminary English
language version of the questionnaire was prepared then discussed with several Korea
country specialists. In the second stage the questionnaire was translated then piloted in
89 students of the Seoul National University, South Korea (David, 2010). In the third
stage, a double-blind reverse translation of the questionnaire was solicited, thus two differ-
ent independent translators worked on the final version of the questionnaire. The few
remaining differences in translation were then resolved and the questionnaire was fine-
tuned in further discussed with Korean survey specialists.
We used an online survey to test our hypotheses. Online experiments minimise exper-
imenter effects, avoid some time constraints, enable access to a large number of demo-
graphically diverse populations, cut survey costs and have a number of other
advantages including better external validity than laboratory experiments, although
their external validity depends on the prevalence of Internet usage (Reips, 2002). The
fact that prevalence of Internet usage in Korea is amongst the highest in the world (in
2010 the prevalence of Internet usage in Korea was 82.5%, higher than in the United
States4) influenced our choice of survey administration method.
The questionnaire was administered as part of an online survey conducted by Gallup
Korea in May 2010. Participants were randomly selected from the Gallup nationwide
online panel, which is calibrated by offline research. The sample was stratified according
to sex, age and the place of residence and respondents were randomly assigned to a par-
ticular variant of the experimental vignette. 640 confidential responses were solicited,
giving 80 responses per experimental cell.

Analyses and results

We used multivariate analysis to examine the impact of the three transitional justice vari-
ables on perceptions of a wrongdoer. We were unable to use a simple ordinary least
 68 R. DAVID
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Figure 1. Distribution of the reassessment scale. Note: The number of cases at 0 was 112 (17.5%), 1 was
30 (4.7%), 5 was 59 (9.2%), and at 20 was 1 (0.16%). The distribution of the scale in the range of 1–20,
though still skewed, resembles the normal distribution and suggests that perceptions about the wrong-
doer may be affected by present influences. Nonetheless, most respondents who scored zero seem
resistant to present influences.

squares (OLS) linear regression model as we encountered an unexpected finding at the

outset of our analysis. The distribution of the dependent variable, ‘reassessment of wrong-
doer’ showed marked positive skew (Figure 1). The number of cases at zero (indicating no
change in perceptions at all) was a staggering 112 (17.5%), which was also the maximum
of the scale. For comparison, there were 45 (7.0%) cases at 10 (which would be one of the
most frequent categories if the variable were normally distributed). Although it does not
constitute conclusive evidence, this pattern suggested that memories of Japanese wrong-
doing in the Second World War were heterogeneous. At the outset of the analysis, it
appeared that for some respondents memory of Japanese wrongdoing was determined
by history whilst for others contemporary factors were more important.
The distribution of the reassessment variable was resistant to linear transformation. We
recoded the data by adding one to each value (zero cannot be used as a divider). This
changed the range of the scale (1–21 instead of 0–20). We used the Stata ‘ladder’ and
‘gladder’ commands to determine whether the scale could be linearised. Quadratic,
cubic, logarithmic, inverse and square-root transformations failed to linearise the data
(Figure 2). The chi-square statistic, an indicator of normality in this case, is not smaller
than the original model, indicating that no transformation of the data would normalise
the data. This had two implications. Firstly, it prevented us using simple linear models
in the multivariate analyses; secondly, resistance to linear transformation suggested a
resistance of memory to change. Resistance to change has long been a cornerstone of tra-
ditionalist thinking (see Schudson, 1992).
 CONTEMPORARY POLITICS 69
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Figure 2. The resistance of the reassessment scale to linear transformations. Note: The skewness of the
reassessment scale cannot be rectified by any linear transformation. The high chi-square values for
these transformations indicate that they have failed to produce normal distributions even after tenta-
tively recoding the ‘Reassessment of wrongdoer’ scale to 1–21. For instance, chi-square for identity is
31.25, for log reassessment is 65.09 and 1/√(reassessment) is 73.47. The resistance to any linear trans-
formation again points at the social pattern of memory.

Nevertheless, discarding the ‘no change’ (0) responses would produce a more or less
normal distribution of the dependent variable. This suggests that the data were subject
to a floor effect, which can be overcome using Tobit models. A Tobit model is a mixed
model which combines linear regression and probit. The coefficients in Tobit models
are interpreted in the same way as coefficients in OLS regression analysis but they
capture the effects of independent variables on the uncensored latent variable rather
than on the observed outcome.
We therefore used a Tobit regression to test our hypotheses. We regressed the ‘reas-
sessment of wrongdoer’ variable on the three transitional justice variables, their four inter-
action terms and the six control variables. We decided not to suppress the interaction
terms (see Brambor, Clark, Golder, & Landry, 2005). Interactions exist in reality and we
cannot discard their possibility in the factorial design. In practice the efficacy of one
measure of transitional justice may be conditional on another. Financial compensation
without an apology may be as ineffective as apology without financial compensation; simi-
larly one might question the social value of punishment where the wrongdoer is not
obliged to pay compensation and apologise.
Table 1 presents the results of the Tobit multivariate analysis. The experimental vari-
ables were coded -1 and 1, so their regression coefficients indicate their distance from
 70 R. DAVID

Table 1. Tobit regression analysis of the reassessment of wrongdoer.

Predictors Coef. SE
(Constant) 3.80 (1.75)
Gender −0.57 (0.35)
Age 0.04* (0.01)
Education 0.03 (0.09)
Income 0.12 (0.08)
Buddhist −0.56 (0.47)
Christian −0.74^ (0.41)
Compensation 0.95*** (0.17)
Punishment 0.60*** (0.17)
Apology 2.05*** (0.18)
Compensation * Punishment −0.01 (0.17)
Compensation * Apology 0.01 (0.17)
Punishment * Apology −0.09 (0.17)
Compens * Punishment * Apology 0.34* (0.17)
LR Χ2 175.86
Left-censored observations 112
N 640
Note: SE, standard error; LR Χ2, likelihood ratio chi-square.
^
p < .1.
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*p < .05.
***p < .001.

the constant. The main effects were all highly statistically significant, providing strong
support for hypotheses H1–H3. The expected ‘reassessment of wrongdoer’ score of
respondents who read a variant of the vignette in which Mr. Watanabe paid compensation
was 0.95 points (p < .001) above the constant, which is 1.90 points above the expected
score for respondents who read a variant in which Mr. Watanabe did not pay compen-
sation, other things being equal. If respondents read a variant which stated that Mr. Wata-
nabe was punished, their expected score on the reassessment scale was 0.60 points (p
< .001) above the constant and 1.20 points higher than that of respondents who read a
variant in which Mr. Watanabe was not punished, other things being equal. If respondents
read a variant which stated that Mr. Watanabe apologised, their expected reassessment
score was 2.05 points (p < .001) higher than the constant and 4.10 points higher than
that of respondents who read a variant in which Mr. Watanabe did not apologise, other
things being equal.
If we were conducting research on transitional justice, particularly research on politi-
cal apologies, even these preliminary findings would be rewarding. The main effect of
apology was considerably larger than the main effect of punishment or financial com-
pensation. However, we were interested in use of transitional justice as a means of
changing perceptions of wrongdoers, that is, as a conflict transformation strategy.
The multivariate analysis produced an unexpected finding; they showed that the
effect of the third order interaction term on the expected value of the reassessment
score was 0.34 points (p < .05), other things being equal.5 Payment of reparations trans-
formed perceptions of the wrongdoer if retributive and reconciliatory measures were
also implemented; or in other words, the effect of apology was conditional on punish-
ment and compensation. This finding suggests that collective memory has an organic
nature. Rather than being a function of the past collective memory is a resistant func-
tion of the present. Memory of the past may change, but only if certain conditions
are met. A change in collective memory of transgression is conditional on the
 CONTEMPORARY POLITICS 71

implementation of a comprehensive policy of transitional justice that incorporates

reparatory, retributive and reconciliatory measures.
Of the socio-demographic variables investigated only age was a significant predictor of
reassessment score. Every year of age increased the expected reassessment score by 0.04
points (p < .05). Although we hypothesised that age would affect memory the direction of
the effect was a surprise; the younger generation’s judgement of the wrongdoer was sig-
nificantly harsher than that of the older generation. This is certainly a surprising finding
since older people are more likely to rely on prejudice than younger people do (von
Hippel, Silver, & Lynch, 2000). We propose three explanations for this phenomenon.
First, young people may take a more idealistic view of historical justice and be more sen-
sitive to challenges to their historical identity as a victimised nation. Second, young people
may take a more radical attitude to relations with Japan than their parents’ generation
which experienced many ups and downs in relations between the two countries over a
longer time span. Third, younger respondents’ attitudes may reflect a trend towards
harsher judgement caused by continuing Japan’s continuing denials of and inability to
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deal explicitly with the legacy of its occupation of the Korean Peninsula.

Discussion and limitations

This paper contributes to the literature on (i) collective memory, (ii) transitional justice and
(iii) the current political debates related to the Japanese occupation of Korea.
(i) We have used transitional justice as a test of the explanatory value of major theories
on the origin of collective memory. We have developed an experimental vignette that
manipulated various measures of transitional justice and observed their impact on the
‘perceptions of wrongdoer’ scale to determine whether the perceptions are derived
from the past or the present. We have used two analytical steps to resolve the
dilemma: descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis. Although the latter is superior
to the former, the former provides us with an important clue to understand the nature
of collective memory.
The descriptive statistics and the distribution of the dependent variable seemed to indi-
cate that the past and the present may co-exist. At the outset of our inquiry, it appeared
that some people derive their perceptions about the wrongdoer from the past and some
from the present. However, the preliminary enquiry had a major limitation. We were not
able to say whether the large number of respondents really derives their attitude from
the past or from a present situation that recalls the past. Like in university, a large
number of students failing an exam does not mean that all of them were equally unpre-
pared. The problem of too many zeroes can be overcome by observing the results of the
whole class. Statistically, it can be done by Tobit model.
In the second step, we have therefore used a multivariate Tobit analysis. We found that
transitional justice could – under very specific conditions that all transitional justice
measures are present – change perceptions of wrongdoers. This clearly constitutes evi-
dence against traditionalism. However, the mutual dependence of measures of transitional
justice suggests that a simple presentist approach should be superseded by new theories
which view memory as a coherent, organic phenomenon. ‘The past’ is less malleable than
the presentist literature suggests. The impact of contemporary contextual factors appears
rather overrated, as the popular perceptions of historical actors cannot be easily rewritten.
 72 R. DAVID

The resistance of the past to present stimuli may be caused by the fact that histori-
cal injustice is inextricably linked to the victims’ collective identity. As the case of the
Argentinean Mother’s cited in the introduction suggests, the inability to prosecute
members of the military junta would affect their status as victims, suggesting that
the death of their loved ones was justifiable. In the case of Korea, the historical injustice
is firmly interlinked with the Korean national identity and Japanese occupation of the
Korean Peninsula. In sum, changing how wrongdoers are perceived depends on how
well transitional justice policies fit with contemporary perceptions of the historical
events to which they relate; or more precisely, how well they act in accord to confer
victims’ identity.
Finally, this finding contributes to ‘the history of studies on collective memory’. The fact
that perceptions of the past cannot be easily changed by present factors explains why tra-
ditionalism and presentism have coexisted for such a long time.
(ii) The last two decades have seen the spread of transitional justice measures and a
corresponding increase in related research. Although criminal trials, truth commissions,
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apologies and other measures of transitional justice are routinely linked to collective
memory, there has been very little theoretical or empirical research on this link. The
origins and impact of transitional justice have typically been framed in terms of mechan-
istic causal models which do not address the critical question of the relationship between
transitional justice and memory of the past. Our findings suggest that apology is a far more
powerful measure of transitional justice than international criminal trials and financial
compensation.
Another implication of the findings is that owing to the ‘organic’ nature of collective
memory, transitional justice fails if it is incomplete or deficient in one or more aspects.
Only comprehensive transitional justice allows the memory of wrongdoing to be trans-
muted and enables the development of a more positive image of wrongdoers as a
social group capable of moral development. The close link between collective memory
and transitional justice may be a reason why so many countries fail in their efforts to
pursue transitional or historical justice.
(iii) Our findings suggest that Korean grievances against Japan are maintained by
modern Japan’s apparent inability fully to dissociate itself from the past. Japan cannot
expect to dispel mistrust without comprehensive implementation of transitional justice
including new expressions of regret. Comprehensive transitional justice which opens
the hearts and minds of all generations can change the course of history. Japan’s taxpayers
should ask their government about the financial cost of denial, including the compen-
sation scheme that was not described as ‘compensation’.
Limitations: Our findings are subject to conceptual and methodological limitations. The
first limitation concerns the experimental design. Experimental surveys are more effective
than a traditional survey but the number of variables which can be investigated is limited.
We were able to investigate only one example of historic wrongdoing, and had to leave to
aside many other instances of historic wrongdoing. The second limitation is a common
criticism of survey research; any survey can only be a snapshot of society, capturing a
set of opinions at a particular moment in history. To show that our findings are consistent
over time we would have to repeat the experiment. The third limitation, like the first,
relates to experimental design; we studied memories based on experimental stimuli
instead of studying ‘memory in action’ (Olick, 1999, pp. 346–347).
 CONTEMPORARY POLITICS 73

Notes
1. There has been no consensus about the name for the third-way approaches. For instance, the
‘cultural system’ approach (Schwartz, 1996) and the ‘dialogical’ approach to memory (Olick,
1999) clearly differ in their assumptions and methodology.
2. Thus, forcing Koreans to Japanize their names during the occupation of the Korean peninsula
effectively uproots the family lineage; and visiting the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan is not only motiv-
ated by worshipping war criminals but also paying respect to ancestors.
3. BBC, S Korean ‘comfort women’ still waiting for apology after 22 years. Available from: http://www.
bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25654865 [Accessed 21 May 2014].
4. World Bank 2010 Data. Available from: http://data.worldbank.org/ [Accessed 21 May 2014].
5. The statistical significance of the third-order interaction term would become more robust if the
five-item reassessment scale were reduced to three or four items.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
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Funding
Administration of the survey was funded by Lingnan University.

Notes on contributor
Roman David is a Professor at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He held various positions at Oxford,
Wits, Yale, Newcastle, and Harvard. His specialization is transitional justice, revenge, forgiveness, and
reconciliation. He is the author of Lustration and Transitional Justice, University of Pennsylvania Press,
2011, which won the triannual Concept Analysis Award by the Committee on Concepts and Methods
of the IPSA in 2012. His publication list is available at https://sites.google.com/site/roman328/.

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