This week a meeting in Beijing between the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan failed to budge either side from the impasse in trade relations. I am not writing a considered review of this situation yet. Here is some background.
At the end of the week South Korea announced that it would not renew a 2016 agreement with Japan for sharing intelligence directly with Japan. Sharing will still occur via the United States.
The stresses in ROK-Japan relations have a long history.
In the early 1800s the Kingdom of Joseon in Korea was loyal to the Qing Dynasty in China, and observing the military interventions in China of European imperial powers and the opening by force of Japan by the United States, Joseon was determinedly a 'hermit kingdom'... until Japan succeeded in an opening by force of Korea after the manner of the opening of Japan by the US. Imposing an unequal treaty. Korea was a colony of Japan until the end of World War 2 and a peace treaty was not signed until 1965.
The 1965 treaty is at the centre of current controversy. For Japan it was a conclusion of issues of reparation. For the ROK not so, a situation aggravated by the treaty having been entered into by the dictator president Park Chung-hee. Also part of the issue is that Japan at the time wanted to make payments to individuals directly. South Korea rejected that and said it would do whatever disbursement. The Park administration in fact used the reparation funds for the most part for major infrastructure projects, notably the Seoul-Busan freeway and the Pohang Iron and Steel mill... foundations for South Korea's development since.
In the past few years there has been agitation in South Korea for reparations for comfort women, sex slaves of Japanese forces in World War 2. The daughter of Park Chung-hee, Park Geun-hye, was president of the ROK from 2013 until impeached in 2017 and had signed an agreement with Japan to bring the comfort women issue to closure — an agreement considered inadequate by public opinion and the present ROK government.
There has been persistent anger in in Korea and China at the way the Japanese Government has sought to alter history and its role in WW2 and longer wars with Korea and China, notably through revision of officially shaped textbooks.
The Moon adminstration in Seoul has sought a new relationship with North Korea and the two Korean governments have succeeded in reducing the arms along the demilitarised zone. At the same President Trump has embarked on negotiations with North Korea. In this process, Japan has felt excluded, President Abe also anxious about prospects of trade conflict with the US.
Abe faced elections recently and succeeded in getting a solid majority but not sufficient in size to allow amendment of the constitutional restraints on defence. In securing the elections he played right wing cards especially against Korea. Apart from particular issues in debate, there appears to be a fundamental issue of views in Japan, and views of Abe, of Korean people as unequal to Japanese. This is explored in depth here, article the header of which is alongside here.
30 August: see also this. “Abe’s refusal to engage with S. Korea marks end of Japan’s status as peaceful country,” says Haruki Wada
South Korea also perceives moves by Japan to diminish relations with Korea, in its relegation to a minor position in the Indo-Pacific strategy, rather than a close team in north Asia. There are complex emotions.
For further current news and discussion in Korea, see these:
http://english.hani.co.kr/
https://en.yna.co.kr
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzznO4xSV8BKnUBPyswtCUw (Arirang TV news, well presented)
and for Japan
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/ is limited value
https://www.w3newspapers.com/japan/ gives you a range of sources to explore.
And for wider regional:
https://www.asiatimes.com/
https://www.scmp.com/
both out of Hong Kong.
Best to hunt Asian sources rather than depend on news organisations elsewhere. And to regard all sources as reflecting local opinion and perspective, rather than certain evidence. We should similarly look with care at the quality and perspective of media in Australia, the US and Europe, tending so often be briefly caught up in passing violence. The Guardian is especially (and very disappointingly) guilty of this in the Third World, rushing a generalist to bash out a story and duck off to the next big thing. This is a problem that arises increasingly when even the media we would like to trust most are confronted by limited budgets requiring fleeting coverage of more and more.
At the end of the week South Korea announced that it would not renew a 2016 agreement with Japan for sharing intelligence directly with Japan. Sharing will still occur via the United States.
The stresses in ROK-Japan relations have a long history.
In the early 1800s the Kingdom of Joseon in Korea was loyal to the Qing Dynasty in China, and observing the military interventions in China of European imperial powers and the opening by force of Japan by the United States, Joseon was determinedly a 'hermit kingdom'... until Japan succeeded in an opening by force of Korea after the manner of the opening of Japan by the US. Imposing an unequal treaty. Korea was a colony of Japan until the end of World War 2 and a peace treaty was not signed until 1965.
The 1965 treaty is at the centre of current controversy. For Japan it was a conclusion of issues of reparation. For the ROK not so, a situation aggravated by the treaty having been entered into by the dictator president Park Chung-hee. Also part of the issue is that Japan at the time wanted to make payments to individuals directly. South Korea rejected that and said it would do whatever disbursement. The Park administration in fact used the reparation funds for the most part for major infrastructure projects, notably the Seoul-Busan freeway and the Pohang Iron and Steel mill... foundations for South Korea's development since.
In the past few years there has been agitation in South Korea for reparations for comfort women, sex slaves of Japanese forces in World War 2. The daughter of Park Chung-hee, Park Geun-hye, was president of the ROK from 2013 until impeached in 2017 and had signed an agreement with Japan to bring the comfort women issue to closure — an agreement considered inadequate by public opinion and the present ROK government.
There has been persistent anger in in Korea and China at the way the Japanese Government has sought to alter history and its role in WW2 and longer wars with Korea and China, notably through revision of officially shaped textbooks.
The Moon adminstration in Seoul has sought a new relationship with North Korea and the two Korean governments have succeeded in reducing the arms along the demilitarised zone. At the same President Trump has embarked on negotiations with North Korea. In this process, Japan has felt excluded, President Abe also anxious about prospects of trade conflict with the US.
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| see link at left |
30 August: see also this. “Abe’s refusal to engage with S. Korea marks end of Japan’s status as peaceful country,” says Haruki Wada
South Korea also perceives moves by Japan to diminish relations with Korea, in its relegation to a minor position in the Indo-Pacific strategy, rather than a close team in north Asia. There are complex emotions.
For further current news and discussion in Korea, see these:
http://english.hani.co.kr/
https://en.yna.co.kr
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzznO4xSV8BKnUBPyswtCUw (Arirang TV news, well presented)
and for Japan
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/ is limited value
https://www.w3newspapers.com/japan/ gives you a range of sources to explore.
And for wider regional:
https://www.asiatimes.com/
https://www.scmp.com/
both out of Hong Kong.
Best to hunt Asian sources rather than depend on news organisations elsewhere. And to regard all sources as reflecting local opinion and perspective, rather than certain evidence. We should similarly look with care at the quality and perspective of media in Australia, the US and Europe, tending so often be briefly caught up in passing violence. The Guardian is especially (and very disappointingly) guilty of this in the Third World, rushing a generalist to bash out a story and duck off to the next big thing. This is a problem that arises increasingly when even the media we would like to trust most are confronted by limited budgets requiring fleeting coverage of more and more.
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