Tokyo-born scholar Yuji Hosaka steps into Seoul politics

Korea Herald

27-05-2025

Hosaka leads the DP's accusations against the PPP over alleged pro-Japanese remarks
Yuji Hosaka, a Tokyo-born political scientist and professor at Sejong University in Seoul, is making his foray into South Korean politics, appearing alongside Democratic Party of Korea leaders at presidential campaign events — marking him as the latest foreign-born figure to enter the country's political arena.
Although Hosaka publicly endorsed Moon Jae-in during the 2017 presidential election, he had not actively participated in party campaign events until recently. His affiliation with the liberal South Korean party further expanded on May 17, when he was appointed chair of the party's newly launched Committee to Eliminate Pro-Japanese Historical Distortion. The 14-member committee operates as part of the Democratic Party's official campaign structure through the June 3 presidential election.
On Monday, during a press briefing at the Democratic Party's headquarters in Seoul, Hosaka accused the conservative People Power Party of promoting pro-Japanese narratives. His remarks came in response to recent controversial comments by People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo, who claimed that Koreans under Japanese colonial rule were legally Japanese nationals.
Hosaka strongly refuted the claim, saying it had no basis in the 1910 annexation treaty, the Meiji Constitution, or Japan's nationality laws at the time. 'The Japanese Empire treated Koreans as a separate group,' he said, 'placing them under surveillance as potential dissidents — not as fellow citizens.'
'New Right forces, backed by Japan, are working to distort historical facts to fit the claims of Japan's far right,' Hosaka added. 'Unless we eliminate these pro-Japan forces, another Yoon Suk Yeol will rise. This is a battle between common sense and absurdity, between defending the Constitution and destroying it.'
The so-called New Right is a conservative movement in South Korea that emerged in the early 2000s. It seeks to reframe key historical events, including Japan's colonization of Korea, often portraying it as a period of modernization rather than oppression.
In its statement Monday, the committee accused the New Right of reviving colonial-era narratives and undermining Korea's legal and historical identity. It denounced the theory of 'colonial modernization,' condemned the group's denial of wartime forced labor and sexual slavery, and warned against attempts to delegitimize Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo. The statement labeled the New Right 'an anti-state force.'
According to the Democratic Party of Korea, the committee was created in response to a growing number of public statements by conservative politicians that downplay or justify Japan's colonial rule over Korea. 'This committee was not created for academic discussion,' one party official said. 'It is a response to direct political messaging that attempts to normalize the historical views of Japan's far right.'
Hosaka has openly stated his alignment with the progressive bloc in South Korea. In a recent speech, he said, 'We must change the government and build a nation where people can live and realize their dreams. I will do everything I can to support those aiming to make that possible.'
Asked whether he feared political retaliation, such as being blacklisted by conservative groups, Hosaka acknowledged the risk but said he would not be deterred. 'That possibility definitely exists,' he said, 'but I'm a rationalist. My political orientation has always been with the opposition here in Korea.'
Reflecting on the 2015 comfort women agreement between Korea and Japan under the administration of former President Park Geun-hye, Hosaka criticized the process as fundamentally flawed. 'Even if you're conservative, you should be rational and trustworthy,' he said. 'The government failed to persuade the people. I believe the agreement must be renegotiated, but before that, we need to investigate why it was made in the first place.'
Born in 1956, Hosaka moved to South Korea in the 1980s for academic research and became a naturalized Korean citizen in 2003. Over the years, he has emerged as a prominent advocate against historical revisionism and a vocal defender of Korea's sovereignty over disputed issues such as the Dokdo islets — called Takeshima in Japan.
Since 1998, Hosaka has dedicated his academic career to Dokdo-related research and currently serves as the director of Sejong University's Dokdo Research Institute. His work focuses on gathering historical, legal and cartographic evidence to support Korea's territorial claim to the islets.