Today, we are all historians, some are professional and many studied history to a smaller extent. And as everyday historians, we immediately recognize the Hakenkruez, or more widely known as the “Swastika.” We understand that the Swastika contains the pain and sufferings that the victims of the German Holocaust had to endure.

This kind of representation that carry painful history also exists in East Asia. Although unnoticed by most people, the Rising Sun Flag is similar to the Swastika in history. Nearly everyone today would recognize the Rising Sun Flag, a historical Japanese Flag used during the WWII and much before the world wars. However to most, this flag is merely a war flag, representing past Japanese patriotism or even just a good looking pattern that delivers a vibrant tone.

Korean history is often left unnoticed, despite the deeply emotional and hurtful history that lies within the Korean Peninsula. From the year of 1910 through the 1945 Japanese defeat in the WWII, the entirety of the Korean Peninsula was imperialized under the Japanese government. And through the Japanese Imperialism, the Rising Sun Flag was what represented and symbolized the military power of the Japanese, who used their control to attack the Peninsula and its people. Currently, the Japanese government states that the Rising Sun Flag is a flag used as a representation of the Sun as it does in the current Japanese flag, and insists that the flag was used culturally for a long time, blurring the all the negative aspects that lie in the flag. The truth is that the Japanese government is hiding the hurtful history, that is engraved behind the white rectangle with red stripes.

It is hard to imagine that there was an event in history that is nearly as painful as the Holocaust in Europe. But the reality is that pain is immeasurable, and that all pain that exists in history can be equally sympathized. For Koreans, the 35 years of imperialism was the most painful memory in history, and the Rising Sun Flag continues to scar the people.