due process aside, I think there's a case to be made when it comes to real estates gained as a result of one's familial passing-down. but only through due process.

Hell no! That's just terrible...

ill play korea for this 1. ahem. so. i am poor and he is rich. i am poor and he is rich because his granddaddy kissed the overlords ass well my granddaddy resisted the overlord. after my father ,and his father ,then me worked are ass's off we finally are ,for the most part ,free of the overlord.there is only one problem left ,we are still poor and that sob who worked for the,now out of power,overlord is still rich.so i want all that he has and he can have what i got.

Unless they're willing to relocate them if property is taken away, I really think they should stop being pricks.

If they had done this 50-75 years ago then this might have been more reasonable... not much but a bit. I don't even know the names of my family from the 100 years ago, save for one who we have a picture of from when he was in the civil war.

I mean it sounds like they are going one step short of exiling people here. From the sounds of it they are already treated as outcasts, and now it seems they are losing some pretty fundamental rights.

I think it's pretty wrong, since my belief is that we ought to punish the Japanese war criminals before they die off from old age. Just look at the Nazi hunters. They're scrambling to find the last remnants of the old Reich just to bring them to justice, 60 years later. One has to admire that kind of determination.

But property is always a sketchy thing. I mean, if you want to get into tiny details, there are cases all over the world of people's ancestors receiving land through unscrupulous methods.

That's terrible.

Logic and reason are not being applied here. Very sad.

Other countries have done this before, not sure about land but art that was acquired during the occupation of France is still being reclaimed from the descendants of those that took it. Stolen goods are still stolen even if you pass it down to someone or sell it.

@Varik But this isn't necessarily stolen goods. These people got cushy jobs and a big paycheck as a result of it, but not necessarily repossessing others' lands. It's more about how they were treated versus the common folk.

If they are treated like crap because of what they ancestors did, I call complete bullshit. I'm not sure about repossessing land since I don't know how they acquired that land in the past and how does the country laws work about this and its history, and neither does any of you here.

Japanese went complete nazi-psycho on a whole bunch of people, and then played the ignorant hypocrite since now. Like it or not, this is a very touchy subject. Even so, I don't believe on passing on hate nor ignorance, and that goes for both parties.

@Brad Rice: Can land bought with cushy jobs and big paychecks be considered a stolen good? That also depends on what each country considers a stolen good.

I get in trouble for others' actions all the time so I fully sympathize with these people. Shame I can't send them any aid.

I've always disliked Koreans for being ultra-capitalistic, the people being subservient and observing elitism, but this takes pushes my tolerance of them to new limits. Punishing people for the crimes of their ancestors is against the Geneva Convention. I don't see why the people aren't rebelling against this policy! Is it because they really believe that you should be held accountable for the actions of your ancestors? Just because it doesn't affect themselves directly, they can forsake their own countrymen?

Koreans that stand for this policy are the true traitors to their country!

i have to agree with korea. though, they should have done this long ago. being an aboriginal myself, i often hope the same gets done for us and our african brothers that were once slaves. that being said, its not about anger or revenge, its about levelling the playing field.

oh, and i am sure this new rule won't apply to people with only minor land and wealth to give up. this is probably for those really really really rich people that got there because of their family's actions

Yeah, they're several generations too late. If the immediate children of those traitors were living lavishly, then that's the only way I can remotely see justifying this.

It's a little silly, but I can kind of understand. If the properties in question were deemed to be attained in an illegal manner, ie, via forceful takeover, and distribution to the new invaders patrons, then I could see how this is supposed to be "setting things right". However, it's just been way too long. WAY TOO LONG. There's no justice in this anymore. Let old debts die.

I don't want to comment on the morality of the issue. I am not a part of the country and certainly do not understand all that is at stake here. That said the arrogance of government regardless of the form it takes never ceases to amaze me.

So, where does Ban Ki Moon fall on this issue? As head of the UN, there's no way he could've instituted it. What's his political office/position within Korea? It would reflect very badly on his leadership for something like this to pop up in his country. In fact, South Korea needs the image of being the "good guys" against North Korea in order to keep their international support.

And yeah, there are laws about this sort of thing, especially within the UN, of which [South] Korea is a member.

So what the hell?

I see a valid distinction between just angered out-lashing at those who are related to "blood traitors" and reprimands from past crimes involving property directly gained from the original crime. Essentially it's like inheriting a stolen painting, while you have technically never acted criminally the property is not legally yours and there COULD be charges laid but would most likely end up in a returning of the stolen painting.

It all depends on how the case is justified within the courts.

@fission2
All Koreans are the same, amirite?
Regardless, this pisses me off. I've always been proud of being Korean, and I've always maintained that the Japanese born now shouldn't be punished or feared (like I know some of the people I know do) purely because of the (granted, horrific) crimes against us years ago.
Korea should just leave this bullshit in history where it belongs. We can't keep beating a dead horse for some misled sense of nationalism and revenge, just string it up and leave it as a warning to future generations. Don't punish innocent people for stuff their ancestors did.

But with the politics of South Korea being so screwed up, we can't necessarily claim that the general populace agrees. Though it seems that they might. I don't think Ban Ki Moon would concur with this but this is a political matter of the country, in which to my knowledge, he wields no power besides influence.

You said South Korea right? What the fuck?

I don't know enough about it but I'm in South Korea right now. Only here for two more weeks...don't wanna do anything to get myself deported. Need mah credits for school!! (o.o)

Hope Grampa didn't do anything while he was here. Ohhh I'm so sure he did.

it's common sense to me that this is ridiculous....


@-Moonlight- yeah, over-generalization is a bitch, you aren't the only one

Can we destroy these spamming jerks?

Hearing this news makes me want to make a statement about "a camera so easy that a fool or a Korean could use it" but I won't. (This is basically the only rude thing about Koreans I've ever heard in Japan after living there for 20 years. The reverse would not be true, would it, Korea?)

How Christian of them.

This is just typical korean behavior. They have always made a name for themselves solely by playing the victim card. The Taiwanese were also colonized by the Japanese, and have never had this kind of attitude. I am not glorifying colonization, but as many good things came out of it as bad. Korea is the nation that defines inferiority complex, and they eat dogs.

@occulttangle
I say again. ALL KOREANS ARE THE SAME AMIRITE.

@Moonlight
No some of the one's born outside of Korea end up sane. That is if their parents don't warp their minds first. So I would say just upwards of 99%.

I'd like for you to explain to me what good came out to balance the subjugation and exploitation of the African people under colonization.

Regardless, the idea of calling this justified on the idea of any crime committed in the first half of the last century must mean that Korea has some very lax statues of limitations.

@Martin Clock
My intent was not to place any value on colonization in general, only in regards to Korea (but since you asked, how about roads, hospitals, sanitation, litteracy, houses, etc. etc. etc., same as korea really.)
My only intention was to clearly point out that Korea sucks. Where I live there are thousands of Koreans and they open sushi restaraunts, karaoke places, tae kwon do schools with signs on the front that say KARATE, and then there are the prostitutes who use Japanese names.
Just a minute ago I was reading comments on a Yahoo news story, and there were many Koreans saying that it was America that blew up their submarine.Korea is a nation of lies and I feel someone needs to call them out on it.

@Braid Rice
Yes and No. Collaborators didn't necessarily stole goods, but their cushy jobs and big paychecks came from blood of exploited Koreans. While their fellow Koreans were dying from plunder and massacre, Collaborators were enjoying cushy jobs and building wealth by helping Japanese war criminals who were killing Koreans.

If collaborators' wealth came from blood of dead, it is only right to give the wealth back to those who shed blood, not to those who caused the bloodshed.

I would say it's ridiculous if it was any other case, but I just can't say straight 'No' to this, neither 'Yes'.

Crime can't be inherited (and shouldn't be), but property can.

Descendants should not be responsible for their ancestors' crime, which they were not part of and weren't even in a position to do anything about it. But property they inherited from their ancestors are the same property built on blood of victims and should be returned to those who deserved them.

However, descendants built their life on those property. It is just not right to say "Sorry, but your property originated from your Japanese collaborating ancestors, so we should take these away" and take property by force. It would be same thing as ruining their life. If not worse they are already suffering from harassment for being descendants of collaborators and inheriting their wealth.

I don't think there's right answer for this, but only valid supports. On the other hand, it saddens me to think that this was probably orchestrated by politicians to take advantage of deep rooted Anti-Japan feelings, not to honor those who fought for their country's independence.

I would like to see this being done voluntarily, but it seems life just doesn't go as you want it.

PS. The title is extremely misleading what's happening here. It is not false, but it is not the entire truth. It is not that simple of a matter we are talking about here.

This kind of s#!t is wrong. You can't punish families post-facto for their ancestors' "treachery." Hell, this is similar to why I can't stand Black Liberation Theology, which is supposed to benefit ppl like me (yes, I'm black) at the expense of white ppl. This crap has to stop in general. It's just sickening to see how far mankind goes with redistribution of things that don't belong to the public, but exclusively to individuals.