Newsletter

Upon the anniversary marking fifty years since diplomatic relations became normalized between South Korea and Japan, the Northeast Asian History Foundation published the series "History of Korea-Japan Relations, 1965-2015." To celebrate the publication of the series composed of three volumes each devoted to the political, economic, and sociocultural relations between the two nations, the Foundation held an expert meeting on December 22, 2015 at its grand conference hall under the theme "Contemplating the 50th Anniversary of the Normalization of Korea-Japan Diplomatic Relations."

An Analysis and Review of Korea-Japan Relations Over the Past Fifty Years

With the arrival of the year marking fifty years since the diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan became normalized, the Foundation planned the aforementioned publication by categorizing the relations between the two nations into the spheres of politics, economy, and society/culture to review those relations from a balanced, objective standpoint.

The publication involved a total of 51 junior and senior scholars who have been actively engaged in research on Korea-Japan relations at universities or research institutes in South Korea and Japan. The series represents outcomes of joint research, but the papers making up each chapter were left to be independently authored by each individual scholar. The scholars have thereby been able to cover sensitive current issues under dispute in their papers, using rationales based on their own individual opinions. This means that every scholar who participated in this series each takes ultimate responsibility for the paper they published through it.

Authors' Introduction to the Publication Purpose

Presentations given by the authors at the meeting were arranged according to the categorical division of the published series. Regarding the realm of politics, professors Lee Won-deok (Kookmin University) and Kimiya Tadashi (The University of Tokyo) offered an analysis on how the two nations have so far managed to sustain a fairly close cooperation between them in various areas including politics, society, economy, and culture. According to both experts, by sharing the same basic values and norms based on political democracy, market economy, and human rights, the two nations have been able to prevent conflicts involving history that frequently arose between them since the 1990s from going to extremes.

As for the volume on economy, professor Kim Do-hyung (Hallym University) and senior researcher Abe Makoto (Institute of Developing Economies) stated that the volume's focus was directed toward achieving an objective analysis on the economic relations between Korea and Japan, despite each nation's tendency to somewhat underestimate or denigrate past cases of cooperation between them, including various activities involving such cases. That focus meant performing a proper assessment of economic cooperation Japan has so far done with South Korea and methodically tracing how the recognition of Korea and Korean corporations as an East Asian partner have changed among the Japanese over the years. The two experts also pointed out how cooperation and progress made in various areas between a diversity of economic agents in South Korea and Japan helped mediate the overall relations between the two nations when such relations became politically unstable from time to time.

On the sociocultural realm, professors Lee Jong-gu (Sungkonghoe University) and Isozaki Noriyo (Gakushuin University) highlighted how greatly South Korea's democratization and the end of the Cold War affected the sociocultural relations between South Korea and Japan. They went on to point out that while sociocultural exchanges quickly activated and developed between the two nations since the 1990s, controversial sentiments have also emerged and materialized into expressions such as "anti-Japanese" or "anti-Korean."

A Mutual Understanding Through Multi-layered Relations

Meanwhile, mentioned during the meeting's discussion session was the need to create more occasions for scholars to collaborate in the future like they did for the published series. Analyzing the recent rapid development of exchanges between the two nations, determining the sources of conflict between them, and furthering a mutual understanding through multi-layered relations was also proposed as an approach that may hereafter contribute to the South Korea-Japan relations. In terms of the two nations' economic relations, the need to evolve from a "contest based on aid and a vertical division of labor" into a "relationship formed upon mutual cooperation and a horizontal division of labor" was suggested. This suggestion came from a forecast that "if South Korea and Japan are able to further cooperate in developing a common market between them, the two nations' industries shall go beyond competing with one another to form a horizontal division of labor and secure fresh opportunities for growth."