That's my point exactly. Park and Jinping refuse to even meet with the political representative of Japan. Proclaiming that Korea will forever hate Japan because of its past crimes isn't exactly a comment you would expect from the political leader of a nation towards its neighboring country. For the past 70 years Japan has gone out of it's way to stick to pacifism. And even before that during the war a lot of Japanese people were send to prison or even executed for opposing the military regime. Notably members of the communist party freed only after the U.S. told the government to let them free. But the message both countries send is very clear. No matter what you say, no matter what you do, no matter how much you apologize we will always hate you. That kind of open and vile hate-speech from any other country's leader to mine would be enough to make me an anti-pacifist. But that's the point; a lot of Japanese people themselves haven't forgotten the terror of Japanese military rule. Partly because a lot of Japanese were a victim to it themselves as well. Although you wouldn't tell if from extreme nationalist revisionists such as Abe a lot of Japanese people are deeply ashamed when they learn of or are confronted by the crimes committed so many years ago in their name. But nevertheless, IF Korea and China were serious in mitigating the so-called Japanese threat perhaps they should consider maybe, I don't know, actually talking to the political representatives of Japan? But no it's just hate speech after hate speech, riling up your own citizens and blaming ALL of Japan and even the current generation for every injustice the Koreans and Chinese ever suffered.

Yes, what the Japanese military did to Korea, China and many other nations in the region is absolutely horrific and if I had my way Abe would bow 90 degrees and sincerely offer his apologies on behalf of the nation of Japan, in detail mentioning comfort-women, unit 731, Nanking you name it. Unfortunately that is not the political reality as it is now. And if you are serious in mitigating the threat of war and not just feeling righteous because you are condemning bad people for their crimes you should consider also eliminating hate-speech, curbing anti-Japanism in those countries and actually engaging in a dialogue instead of acting surprised when Japan finally decides it's not going to be left behind militarily amidst all of this rhetoric. I agree, most of the territorial disputes are ridiculous and not even worth fighting about. Look I'm sorry if I have offended you on this topic that was not my intention. It's just that to me, the amount of anti-Japanese rhetoric I see growing every day and the sheer amount of hatred displayed to an entire nation of which most people I know I happen to like is really scary. Now NipponKaigi, Abe and those other folks may not exactly be the best people to help the situation above. But until there is a genuine political will from both people and their representatives to not just have the other face up to its past but to stop punishing new generations for crimes some of their grandparents committed and genuinely move on this kind of hatred, from both sides, is not helping anyone and can actually be very dangerous.