hankyoreh

Japan’s ambassador to South Korea Koro Bessho takes a seat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul after being summoned 1st Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yong to protest Japan’s renewed claims to Dokdo

By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter

Another roadblock appeared in an already fraught situation between South Korea and Japan when the Japanese government released its Diplomatic Bluebook and results from an examination of elementary school textbooks. The possibility of a summit, which has not taken place in the more than one year since the Park Geun-hye and Shinzo Abe administrations came into office, is now looking even less likely. With public opinion, domestic politics, and the dynamics of Northeast Asia pushing the two sides into a structural face-off, the chill is expected to continue for some time.

Much of the blame for the fraying of ties between Seoul and Tokyo goes to the Abe administration, which set off a regional firestorm with the Prime Minister’s unexpected visit last year to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. But the administration’s hard-right approach can be traced to more general sentiments in the Japanese population that voted it into office in Dec. 2012. Discontent about the “lost two decades” was high enough to sell voters on the platform of “leaving the postwar system behind” in favor a “strong Japan” - rather than the country that lost World War II.

The rise of China has pushed Tokyo even deeper into its corner. The emergence of a G2 framework between the US and the world’s new number-two economy has ignited fears that Japan may lose its leadership in the region. Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a summit with US President Obama last year that there was “room in the Pacific for both China and the US” - but in Japan this was read as meaning that any “third countries,” such as itself, had better clear out.

Adding to Japan’s sensitivity on territorial issues is the ongoing dispute with China of the Senkaku Islands (called the Diaoyu Islands in China). The conflicts with neighboring China and South Korea over territory and matters of history can be read an expression of discontent and fear from the Japanese side.

Apr. 4. (pool photo)

■ The importance of ‘saving face’

Having already expressed its unhappiness with Japan’s hard-right policies and dismissed Tokyo’s calls for a summit, the Park administration is not in a position to turn around easily. Meanwhile, new territorial and historical issues keep cropping up every time Japan comes out with another textbook, diplomatic document, or defense paper. In Japan, a movement to revise the 1993 Kono Statement acknowledging the forced mobilization of “comfort women” (sexual slaves to Japanese military) has been gathering steam, and the government remains unchanged in its position on visits to Yasukuni. From South Korea’s standpoint, Japan’s behavior is seen as the equivalent of causing a deep enough wound to sever ties, giving medicine that doesn’t work, then saying, “You got your medicine; let’s meet.”

Many in Japan are also unhappy about Park drawing attention to the comfort women issue and other historical matters. Critics there have taken to referring to her “tsugeguchi” diplomacy, from the Japanese word for “snitching.” The claim is that she has been going around the world trying to shame Japan for not reflecting more on its history.

“What Japan objects to more than South Korea and Japan joining together to criticize its historical actions is the South Korean government shaming it over historical issues in front of the international community,” said Yang Ki-ho, a professor of Japanese studies at Sungkonghoe University.

Washington does not want trouble between its two East Asian allies. From its perspective, three-way military collaboration is fundamental to its Northeast Asia strategy. Many saw its “mediation” for a trilateral summit in The Hague last month as taking shape along these lines. More pressure from the US is likely to come later this month when President Barack Obama makes scheduled visits to South Korea and Japan.

Meanwhile, Seoul is also conscious of its relationship with Beijing. At the moment, the two sides seem to putting up a kind of “united historical front” over Japanese invasions and other historical matters. One standout example is the building of a memorial to Korean independence activist Ahn Jung-geun in the Chinese city of Harbin.

At the moment, China is using its ties with South Korea as a way of turning the pressure up on Tokyo. For Seoul, this means that improving ties is now more unlikely even if Japan should somehow have a change of heart. At the same time, it is not in a position to go “all in” with China at a time when it forms one of the region’s diplomatic backbones alongside the US and Japan.

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