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August 2010 marks the centennial of Japan's forced annexation of Korea. E. H. Carr, a leading historian of the 20th century, commented in his tour de force What is History that "history is an unending dialogue between the present and the past." If that is the case, at the 100th anniversary of the Japan's forced annexation, history is asking us about the fundamental significance of the centennial of the annexation.

The year 2005 was the centennial of the conclusion of the Eulsa Treaty and the 60th anniversary of Korea's liberation. It was also designated as Japan-Korea Friendship Year to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic ties between the two nations. I was teaching international law at a university as an adjunct professor in 2005 when the feeling of amity between Korea and Japan engendered by having co-hosted the 2002 World Cup still lingered. I had hoped that perhaps the Japanese government, channeling this friendly atmosphere, would express its remorse and regret over the past and signal a way forward as true partners. I had hoped that Japan's move would take us beyond the Murayama Statement issued by the Japanese government in 1995, around the 50th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. I imagine just about every historian held similar expectations.

The expectation, however, was dashed when Japan's Shimane Prefecture designated February 22 as Takeshima Day. It was a telling reminder of the divergent historical perceptions held by the two nations.

The Presidential Committee on True History for Peace in Northeast Asia was established on April 20, 1995 to comprehensively and systematically respond to Japan's claims over Dokdo and its distortions of history. The committee was composed of public servants dispatched from related government ministries as well as civilian experts such as myself.

Question posed by history

Our first task was drawing up the articles of association for the founding of the Northeast Asian History Foundation. The Northeast Asian History Foundation was envisioned as a specialized think tank to effectively handle Northeast Asia's historical issues, including Japan's claim to Dokdo, Japan's historical distortions, and China's Northeast Project, under the guiding principle of "writing a new history of peace for Northeast Asia." Our next task, which was especially pertinent to me as a scholar of international law, was set as follows: reexamining Japan's forced annexation of Korea from the viewpoint of international law and demonstrating that the annexation was invalid and null & void by 2010, the centennial of the annexation.

After various trials and tribulations, the Northeast Asian History Foundation was launched on September 28, 2006. The Foundation then published Selected Papers on International Law Relevant to the History of Korea-Japan Relations. The work includes papers by Korean scholars as well as those by conscientious Japanese scholars up to 2005. The papers deal with Japan's treaties of aggression related to its annexation of Korea, the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea, military "comfort women," postwar compensation, Tokyo Trials, and Treaty of San Francisco.

Thereafter, the Foundation held an academic workshop on December 5, 2006. A workshop, "Legal Issues Concerning Postwar Settlement for Peace in Northeast Asia," was organized for scholars of international law working on issues related to Japan's forced annexation of Korea. Reexamining Historical Issues between Korea and Japan from the Perspective of International Law, the outcome of a research project on the given topic funded by the Foundation, was published in 2007. This work went on to be honored by Korea's National Academy of Sciences in 2010 as an outstanding academic title.

In discussing the Foundation's mid- to long-term projects in early 2008, I proposed a project to reexamine the 100 years following Japan's forced annexation of Korea. The project would involve holding international academic conferences in Korea and abroad over three years between 2009 to 2011, collecting the papers presented at these conferences, publishing them as a special research series in several languages, and distributing them in Korea and overseas.

There were challenges in securing a budget. However, the project gained momentum when it came to be known in October 2008 that NKH, with financial support from Japanese government, was working with the Japanese academia to produce a special series on the implications of Japan's annexation of Korea.

Working on the project

The Foundation and the University of Hawaii co-hosted two conferences in 2009. The first one, "The Nature and Policies of Japan's Annexation of Korea," was held in April 2009 at the University of Hawaii, and the second one, "Reexamining the Validity of Japan's Annexation of Korea from the Perspective of International Law," was held in June 2009 at the Foundation. There was much press attention as they were groundbreaking international conferences in the run-up to the centennial of Japan's forced annexation of Korea. Especially noteworthy is that Professors Wada Haruki, Arai Shinichi, and Sasagawa Norikatsu, who participated in the June 22 conference, played leading roles—along with 104 other Japanese intellectuals—in the May 10, 2010 statement by 200 Korean and Japanese intellectuals declaring the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty to be null and avoid.

It is now August 2010. It is time to bring to a close my five-year endeavor to uncover the historical facts of the 1910 Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty and realize justice in terms of international law. Starting with the opening reception on August 23, an international academic conference on "Japan's Forced Annexation of Korea in 1910: Its History and Lingering Issues" will be held from August 24 to 25. The conference will be comprised of three sessions—"The Process of Japan's Forced Annexation of Korea," "East Asian Colonialism and Japan," and "Historical Perceptions and East Asia's Future", with presentations and discussions by 33 experts from 6 countries.

Perspectival Exploration of the Reality of Treaty Coercion, a collection of treaties related to Japan's forced annexation of Korea and the perspectival reexamination of their crippling nature, will be distributed during the conference. Preceding the conference, the Foundation will hold "Reexamination of the 100 Years Following Japan's Forced Annexation of Korea: A National Assembly Exhibition on Treaty Documents" at the National Assembly Library from August 20 to 27. In October, the Foundation will hold an international conference reexamining the 100 years following Japan's annexation of Korea at Leiden University, Europe's Korean studies hub. The conference is expected to contribute to fostering in the international community a correct understanding of the essential nature of the historical conflict between Korea and Japan.

On the centennial of Japan's forced annexation of Korea, Japan's denial of historical inaccuracies it promotes is equivalent to its denial of historical justice and peace. Japan must constantly be reminded that its past wars of aggression and their consequences still remain as issues it must resolve. Japan must also recognize that it must answer to the world regarding its method of taking historical accountability over the past, present, and future.