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Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan (AFP/Yonhap News)

The 2021 Diplomatic Bluebook unveiled by the Japanese government Tuesday repeated the same unconvincing claims about Dokdo being “inherently Japanese territory.” It also referred to a Seoul Central District Court decision in January awarding compensation to survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery as being “utterly unacceptable.”

The Diplomatic Bluebook is an official document in which Japan announces its diplomatic guidelines domestically and internationally each year. It’s unfortunate to see the Japanese government parroting the same old arguments in the latest version, which is the first to come out since a new Cabinet was launched under Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

It’s enough to erase any shred of hope that Suga’s arrival in office last September might be a step on the way to relieving the severe strain that South Korea-Japan relations suffered during his predecessor Shinzo Abe’s tenure.

The Diplomatic Bluebook stated that Dokdo was “clearly inherently Japanese territory, both according to historical fact and in terms of international law.” It also claimed that South Korea “continues its illegal occupation [of the islets] without any basis in international law, including the permanent stationing of guard units.”

As recently as its 2017 Diplomatic Bluebook, Japan had been simply referring to Dokdo as “Japanese territory.” But after relations with Seoul severely soured in 2018, that year’s edition saw the addition of a reference to “illegal occupation,” which Suga has carried on intact.

The latest Diplomatic Bluebook also included new references to the Seoul Central District Court ruling awarding compensation to military sexual slavery survivors, which it said was “in violation of international law and agreements between South Korea and Japan.”

It further announced plans to “continue sternly demanding that South Korea develop appropriate measures to remedy the violation of international law.” On the issue of forced labor mobilization, it repeated its previous insistence that South Korea needs to quickly devise a solution that is acceptable to Japan.

It’s deeply disappointing to see the Japanese government attempting to blame South Korea and hold it responsible for a tragedy that arose because of Japan’s own colonization history and wars of aggression.

Tokyo needs to face up to the fact that the Japanese military sexual slavery issue ultimately boils down to a matter of human rights violations and infringements of universal rights perpetrated against women during an unprecedented global military conflict.

There are a lot of issues that need to be resolved between South Korea and Japan. In addition to the historically rooted ones, there is also the matter of Japan’s decision to release radioactively contaminated water from Fukushima into the sea, as well as the North Korean nuclear issue and other matters related to the Korean Peninsula’s political situation.

In his commemorative address for this year’s March 1 Independence Movement Day, South Korean President Moon Jae-in indicated a strong commitment to improving ties with Japan. Yet, Tokyo continues doggedly sticking to its guns. Japan needs to let go of its galling perceptions on historical matters and its irresponsible attitude on the Fukushima water issue and make good faith efforts to resolve these things through dialogue with South Korea.

Hopefully, they will realize the obvious truth that it takes two to achieve a real solution.

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]