The Korean War by Wada Haruki

Author:Wada, Haruki.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
Published: 2012-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

Ashida wanted the Yoshida administration to lead a broad-based national movement for defense of Japan against Communism that would include the Liberal, Socialist, Democratic, and other parties. He sent his memorandum to Premier Yoshida on December 7,[175] and met with him at Yoshida’s residence a week later. Ashida reiterated that the war in Korea was a crisis for Japan and urged Yoshida to form a national unity cabinet. Yoshida hinted that the Communist Party should be outlawed, but was averse to talks with the Socialists. Ashida recommended bold action and appealed to Yoshida’s patriotism in colorful language: “For the sake of the country you might even run down Ginza in a loin cloth!”[176] But dramatic gestures to show desperate determination were not Yoshida’s style.

Despite Chinese intervention in Korea, Yoshida did not consider the military situation there all that crucial. When the Diet session ended for the year-end recess on December 16, he convened a secret plenary session of Liberal Party Diet members and denounced Ashida’s proposal for a unity cabinet as “inappropriate speech and behavior in Japan’s current circumstances” because the Korean War did not pose such a danger for Japan. “Some people say the Korean problem is entering a crucial phase and World War III is inevitable. I do not think wars occur so easily. The situation is not that grave. I do not think the Chinese Communists will triumph in the end or that the Korean disturbance will go on indefinitely. At the appropriate point there will be a settlement.”[177]

Ashida made public his memorandum to GHQ and made a statement in the Asahi Shimbun on December 28: “The Chinese Communists not only aim to control Korea but next will call for the liberation of Japan from U.S. occupation. . . . It is rare for one country to sacrifice its young men and fight to the death to protect another people who will not defend themselves.” Ashida’s formula for his broad-based national defense movement: exclude the Communist Party, bring the Socialist Party into the picture, and strengthen independent self-defense forces.[178]

Japanese Socialist Party Secretary Asanuma Inejiro weighed in from the left against Ashida: “That Japan cannot be indifferent to recent trends in Korea is true. But as a country that has pledged peace and demilitarization in our new constitution we must always have convictions and confidence in peace. . . . Japan is under the supervision of the Allied Powers and I firmly believe that our security should be guaranteed by the United Nations and we should closely observe trends in Asia. When the Allies have as yet said nothing about rearmament, politicians concerned about the nation should not raise the issue.”

At a press conference on December 28, Prime Minister Yoshida derided fear-mongering politicians who shout “‘Oh, my god! Oh, my god!’ Shouting in such way, they brought forth the Great East Asia War.” Instead of spouting overheated rhetoric, Yoshida said, “We should uphold the spirit of the Constitution for the time being and not talk rashly about rearmament.” He called for a crackdown on the Communist Party and pro-Pyongyang Korean rioters in Japan.

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