Japan-South Korea peace efforts have so far been hampered by a perpetual populist stance. The shadow of World War II has not yet receded.
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Northeast Asia is a region of the world that still bears the brunt of World War II. This is confirmed by the conflict between Japan-South Korea and Japan-China. Despite such security talks between South Korea and Japan, the two countries do not seem to be creating a peaceful atmosphere. Therefore, both the capitals of Seoul and Tokyo have to keep the furnace of nationalism burning continuously.
After Moon Jae-in's presidential election in Korea in 2017, there were hopes for a while that he would take a different path and take steps towards reconciliation between the two countries under his leadership. In the early days after his swearing-in, Moon also expressed a desire to reconcile with Japan. But subsequent changes disproved all these expectations.
It all started with the issue of 'Comfort Woman'. ‘Comfort Woman’ is a gentle name given to hundreds of Korean women who were victims of Japanese sexual slavery during the war. In December 2015, then-South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reached an agreement after lengthy negotiations, under which Japan agreed to provide financial compensation to the surviving Comfort Woman of South Korea. The agreement was deemed final and unchangeable. As a result, it decided to send 1 billion yen for this purpose. Although the agreement seemed to work for some time, soon after Moon's arrival, protests against the Perk-Abe agreement began. This soon turned into a political challenge for Moon. Protests escalated to the point that they had to dismiss The Reconciliation and Healing Foundation. This disappointed the Japanese government.
In recent years, the Korean judiciary has ruled that Japanese companies Mitsubishi, Nippon Steel and Sumitomo should be compensated for unpaid Korean workers during World War II. This has once again strained relations between the two countries. This decision turned out to be a disturbing one. The consequences of this verdict are serious. This can start a chain of such demands. The Japanese government was outraged by South Korea's decision, saying it was weakening post-war bilateral relations. There were internal protests in Japan and the Japanese government clarified that the 1965 peace agreement had resolved the issue of wartime workers.
In South Korea, the court's ruling received widespread support and popularity. Some even questioned the validity of the 1965 peace agreement. According to him, the agreement was accepted by military dictator Perk Chung-hey. Which now becomes irrelevant.
With such extreme populism, it is very difficult for Moon to start negotiations with Japan to resolve the issue. According to some reports, if the issue is not resolved at the bilateral level, Japan will go to the International Court of Justice. This will further complicate relations between the two countries.
Unfortunately, when both countries behave in a people-friendly manner, there is a need for an impartial mechanism that will intervene and bring wisdom to these rivals. Some time ago, some senior diplomats from both the countries tried behind the scenes to restore normalcy in their relations through peaceful diplomacy. In all of this, the role of the United States over the past few years has also been useful. For example, in March 2014, in The Hague, the then US President Barack Obama mediated between Abe and Park Geun-hye to reduce bilateral tensions.
Unfortunately, such an arrangement is not possible in today's world. For one thing, there are no effective ways of communicating, even at the political or even grassroots level. As for the role of the United States, President Donald Trump's emphasis on 'US policy first' has not yet clarified his clear vision for policy with his allies. His pragmatic approach to Korea does not seem to be very useful in gaining the full confidence of the Korean people. For example, South Koreans are unhappy with Trump's growing demands for more spending on defense from Seoul, which has stalled bilateral defense talks.
It is strange to see two friends of the United States sneering at each other even on a sensitive issue like the military. From April to May, the defense ministers of ASEAN and its regional partners will meet at a Korean port. On February 6, the Japanese Ministry of Defense canceled the stop of the Izumo Destroyer at Busan on its way to a multilateral war games. The Japanese suspected that a South Korean naval destroyer had targeted a Japanese patrol aircraft in December. Although South Korea disapproved of this, Japan canceled important multilateral defense talks. In return, South Korea accused Japanese patrol planes of flying over South Korean warships at very low altitudes at international borders.
President Moon's approach to compromise with North Korea has made Japan feel distrustful. It is true that Moon's role in conveying Japan's position on the abduction issue to North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un was crucial.
The two have fundamental differences over whether to formally end the Korean War. Moon is of the view that a ceasefire agreement should be signed as soon as possible with the cooperation of China and the United States. But before that, Japan makes it clear that it must pursue a cautious policy on the issue of North Korea's complete and assured nuclear disarmament. Japan believes that the US-ROK-Japan tripartite cooperation will be important in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.
The way in which the role of Japan was presented in the 2018 South Korean Defense White Paper was also a source of concern for Japan. It does not mention North Korea as an enemy nation. Also, China seems to be more important than Japan on defense issues. In addition, unlike the previous White Papers, the 2018 White Paper does not mention that both South Korea and Japan embrace the values of "liberal democratic economic markets.
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