Offering protective items to Japan deserves praise, not criticism
Gyeongju Mayor Joo Nak-young is under fire for providing some Japanese cities with coronavirus-related quarantine products. The southeastern city of Gyeongju delivered 1,200 sets of protective clothing and 1,000 protective eyewear to Nara, its sister city, and Kyoto, its exchange city, respectively, May 17. Since then some internet users have been pressuring the mayor to resign while staging a boycott campaign against Gyeongju, the capital of the ancient Silla Kingdom. They have also started a petition calling for Joo's dismissal on Cheong Wa Dae's online petition site.
Joo said on social media that the products had been offered to the Japanese cities struggling to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic in accordance with the principle of reciprocity. Gyeongju had a lot of help from a few cities abroad, including Nara, in 2016 when it was struck by an earthquake. As the mayor said, Gyeongju also received quarantine products, including face masks, from such Chinese cities as Xian when the coronavirus outbreak hit here hardest.
On top of reciprocity, helping those in need is a basic duty of mankind from a humanitarian point of view. South Korea has gained international recognition as a model when it comes to responding to the pandemic. Even if infection clusters spread locally, the country's COVID-19 situation seems stable enough to allow schools to reopen after a long hiatus. South Korea certainly can afford to help other countries, so it is wrong to denounce Gyeongju for offering stockpiled quarantine products to Japan.
In recent years, anti-Japanese sentiment has been broadly taken for granted here. Accusations against Gyeongju and Mayor Joo appear to be in the same context. But this is no time for blind antagonism. There is no doubt that Gyeongju's provision of protective products to the Japanese cities with which it has maintained long relationships deserves praise, not criticism. What is needed to address Japan's shameful history and wartime atrocities is not absurd criticism of Gyeongju.