S Korean media criticize use of industrialist's image on new Japanese banknote
Apr. 10 04:04 pm JST
SEOUL
Major South Korean media on Wednesday criticized Japan's decision to use industrialist Eiichi Shibusawa's profile on new 10,000-yen notes, citing his links to colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The Japanese government said on Tuesday it will redesign its banknotes to feature well-known, modern historical figures, and start issuing them in 2024.
At home, Shibusawa (1840-1931) is widely known as the "father of Japanese capitalism," but in South Korea is seen as one of the main figures in imperial Japan, which plundered its neighbor's assets.
Early in the 1900s, in what was then the Korean Empire, Dai-Ichi Bank, one of the predecessors of the current Mizuho Bank, issued banknotes featuring founder Shibusawa. Japan annexed Korea in 1910.
Leading daily Dong-a Ilbo said in an article it is hard to separate Shibusawa from the economic invasion of Korea he was involved in, through the companies he founded.
JoongAng Ilbo, another major daily, noted Shibusawa was a very close friend of Hirobumi Ito, Japan's first prime minister and first resident-general of Korea, who epitomizes imperial Japan for many South Koreans.
The major leftwing newspaper Hankyoreh described Shibusawa as a man who wrongfully took advantage of Korea's economy through Dai-Ichi Bank.
The forerunner of Dai-Ichi Bank that he founded in 1873 expanded its operation into the peninsula in 1878, according to the website of the Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation.
Relations between the two countries have chilled lately after top-court rulings in favor of South Korean plaintiffs who sought compensation from major Japanese companies for wartime forced labor during the colonial era.
Japan's government maintains the issue of claims stemming from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule was settled as part of a treaty signed in 1965 to establish diplomatic ties.
Source:
Japan Today
