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Why South Korea and Japan still can’t put the past behind them

History is messy and painful. Even today few Koreans acknowledge that millions of their compatriots collaborated with the Japanese. Far better to define the Korean character as emanating, pure and brave, from a far-distant moment when it revealed itself in opposition to a monster. For some politicians, Japan-bashing is part of the point.

https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/03/02/why-south-korea-and-japan-still-cant-put-the-past-behind-them

The Irish have largely managed to get over 800 years of brutal British control.  The Koreans seem incapable of getting over 35 years of Japanese control that was no worse and probably better than Britain in Ireland.

Disclaimer:  My surname was carried to the US via County Cork, Ireland.