[Reporter`s view] What touches Japanese hearts?

Japanese people show an explosive interest in the late Lee Su-Hyun, 26, a Korean student who met his fate, breaking their hearts, while trying in vain to save a drunken Japanese citizen who had fallen on a subway track.

"It is too sad that a courageous action will be forgotten some day," a housewife in her 40s said.

A man in his 70s said: "There has been no impressive news like his in recent days. The (Japanese) people should give a letter of thanks."

These and other similar messages of citizens are flooding the Japanese newspapers and broadcasting companies. Japanese newspapers are making headlines with Lee¡¯s stories every day. Each paper, including Asahi Shimbun, even announces bank account numbers to raise condolence money for the Korean student who sacrificed himself.

Broadcasting firms are no exception. They are concentrating on illuminating Lee`s sense of justice in their special programs day after day.

In terms of the sense of justice, the Japanese cameraman in his 40s who jumped to the track along with Lee also should be praised. But reports about Lee overwhelm those of the other man. Why? We can feel the sense of respect toward young Koreans in the hectic reaction of the Japanese.

"I got to feel familiar with Korea that produced a good young man," a man in his 60s said.

A man in his 70s said, "Young Koreans have the Confucian spirit making them to do their best for others.¡±

A man in his 50s said, "Thinking of my first son of the same age, I prayed for Lee`s soul with a really grateful mind."

Japan`s older generation of today looks with daggers at young people. They argue that young Japanese are adrift, losing not only dreams and hopes but also the care for others and patriotic sentiments.

Japanese society seems to find that these are the very things that the young ones of the nation lost through the death of Lee.

The remarks by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori that he`d like to have Lee be a model for young Japanese people speaks for the mind of the older generation of Japan.

Lee used to say that he wanted to become a bridge between Korea and Japan, according to his family and friends. His dream cannot come true now to our deep regret, but it seems to be taking roots in Japan through his death.

Shim Kyu-Sun ksshim@donga.com