South Korea's top court has ruled that the Japanese group Mitsubishi should compensate individuals for their forced labor during World War II. Japan immediately retaliated, calling the ruling "totally unacceptable."
Image: Reuters/T. Hanai
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Upholding a 2013 appeals court decision, the court ordered Mitsubishi to pay 80 million won ($71,000, €63,000) to each of the 23 plaintiffs. In a separate ruling, it demanded that the company pay 150 million won to each of five other plaintiffs.
The ruling echoed a landmark verdict last month by the court, which ruled in favor of a group of South Koreans seeking compensation from the Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corp for their forced labor during the war.
Shortly after the ruling, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono issued a statement describing the court's decision as "totally unacceptable."
"This fundamentally overturns the legal basis for friendly ties between Japan and South Korea and is extremely regrettable," Kono said.
A case brought previously in Japan was dismissed on the grounds that their right to reparation had ended with a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between Tokyo and Seoul.
Two German states rose from the rubble of World War II, with each developing its own founding myths. An exhibition at Bonn's history museum examines these different narratives, as well as the ones of a reunified Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Kaiser
Hermann the warrior garden gnome
The Cherusci war chief Arminius, also known as Hermann, defeated the Romans in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D. Millennia later, the Nazis instrumentalized this myth alongside other earlier Germanic legends for propaganda purposes. After the war, these figures were all but forgotten. Today he can be found as a caricature of himself — as a garden gnome. Germans love their garden gnomes.
Image: Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig / Punctum/B. Kober
'The Miracle of Bern'
"Gooooal!" The elongated word rings out in the museum's hall. Every German instantly recognizes the radio report on Germany's unexpected victory in 1954 at the Soccer World Cup. After the country's wartime defeat, Germans finally had a reason to express public enthusiasm for their country. But it was Sönke Wortmann's 2003 film that made the event into a founding myth by evoking collective memory.
Image: Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland/A. Thünker
'Economic Miracle'
The 1955 Volkswagen Beetle in the exhibition epitomizes the "Economic Miracle" ("Wirtschaftswunder") of the West German economy. The term describes the nation's rapid economic recovery after World War II. The VW above was item number 100,000,001. The millionth car, specially designed for the milestone, had a technical problem. Fortunately, this cream-colored replacement was ready to go.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Kaiser
Prescribed myths
In comparison to West Germany, the eastern German Democratic Republic made a concerted effort to create myths that evoked socialist cohesion. Statues dedicated to fallen soldiers from the Soviet Union's Red Army were one such attempt. The Bonn exhibition, on display through September 16, dedicates a separate area to the different myths of East and West Germany.
Image: Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Germany as a peacemaker?
Still feeling guilty for Germany's Nazi past, some politicians have seen themselves as being responsible for world peace. The decision taken by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2003 to abstain from the "coalition of the willing" that participated in the Iraq war under US leadership further strengthened that myth. The Bonn exhibition counters this myth by focusing on German arms exports.
Image: Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland/A. Thünker
Environmental protection pioneer?
The same holds true for the image of Germans as environmentalists. As a reaction to the perceived threat to German forests that some feared would disappear, the 1980s saw a growing ecological awareness. Sigmar Gabriel, the former economy minister, opened the offshore wind farm Nordsee Ost with an oversized plug in 2015 in an effort to support Germany's energy transition.
Image: Haus der Geschichte/Martin Magunia
Failed myths
"Wir sind Papst" ("We are Pope") cried the sensationalist German tabloid Bild after Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. The paper distributed the slogan on 500,000 badges at the 2005 Catholic World Youth Day in Cologne. "The attempt to turn the event into a national story, however, failed," said the exhibition's curator, Daniel Kosthorst.
Image: Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Community without myths
In 2012, the European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The original award is part of the exhibition, but organizers claim it did not strengthen a common identity or a "European myth." They believe the identities of Europeans continue to be based on national myths.
Image: Haus der Geschichte Bonn/Peter Hoffmann
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'Crimes against humanity'
In its ruling, the South Korean Supreme Court said the treaty did not apply in cases of crimes against humanity.
"The treaty does not cover the right of the victims of forced labor to compensation for crimes against humanity committed by a Japanese company in direct connection with the Japanese government's illegal colonial rule and war of aggression against the Korean peninsula," the court said in a statement.
