뉴스레터

Until modern times, there had been close interaction among Korea, China, and Japan, the three Northeast Asian countries in the common cultural sphere of Chinese characters and Confucianism. Even today, the possibility of the Northeast Asian Community as an economic, cultural, and value community is under active discussion. If history is any indication, Northeast Asia is better positioned to establish its identity as a community than any other region. In reality, however, the opposite is true. Northeast Asia has a long way to go, it is thought, before it can establish a regional community like the European Union or the ASEAN. Instead, Northeast Asia is seeing dangerously escalating tensions among the countries concerned in conflict over historical and territorial issues, and fearing that the conflict might spark armed confrontations.

The three Northeast Asian countries have all seen changes of leadership recently, and their new leaders are all members of the post-war generation and of a similar age. This seemed to set the mood, friendlier than ever, for them to get together and exchange constructive discussion topics for the future of Northeast Asia. As it turned out, however, Korea and Japan haven't had an official summit talk yet for over a year since the launch of their respective new governments. This is unprecedented in the history of the bilateral relations. In addition, the mutual perception of the two peoples is only getting worse.

In June 2015, Korea and Japan will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties. At this important juncture calling for a new turning point, the two countries are still failing to build a momentum that will move them forward. The waves in the waters between Korea and Japan are higher and rougher than ever.

Perhaps both countries are responsible for letting the situation go as bad as it has. The anti-Korean sentiment in Japan was heightened by what we call the 'three combo' of the Korean President Myung-bak Lee's behavior: his visit to Dokdo in the summer of 2012, followed by his demand for an apology from the Japanese emperor, and his remark degrading Japan's international status. The Japanese people feel ill at ease with the incumbent Korean President Park Geun-hye as well because she strongly addresses historical issues in the international community. But in my opinion, the conflict should be blamed primarily on some Japanese politicians who refuse to adapt to the changing international situation, and keep racing backwards.

Issues with the Historical Perception of Some Japanese Politicians

Japan today is swamped with crude discourses and behaviors. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other politicians of Japan are making remarks that are more than disappointing. It is amazing how shallow the historical perception of top politicians can be. I wonder if their words and behaviors reflect Japan's power and class as a nation going downhill.

Even though Japan has been the world's second largest economy for a long time, Japan's political leadership has not been recognized by the international community.

Why is that? The primary reason is Japan's failure to properly handle post-war settlement after World War II. After the war, the 'new Japan' was supposed to begin with atoning for its crimes committed against the Asian people, but it did not. While expressing its intention to surrender to the United States, Japan didn't offer an apology to the Asian countries that it had invaded. Perhaps the situation immediately following the war, with the U.S.-led reform forced upon Japan and the onset of the Cold War, may have denied Japan an independent perception of history and a clear self-reflection. But in truth, it would be more correct to say that Japan ran away from its responsibility for Asia while conveniently conforming to the logic of the U.S. It could never occur to Japan, being obsessed with the notions of escaping from Asia and of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, that they should apologize to Asia. Japan didn't even think that it had lost to Korea. Instead, Japan thought that it had simply 'lost' the Korean Peninsula because it had been defeated in the war with the United States. Given this way of thinking, it is no wonder that the issue of Japan's reflection on, and responsibility for, its past wrongdoing was not addressed in the 1965 Korea-Japan Basic Treaty.

After the war, the conservatives of Japan have continued to deny their 'defeat in the war' and the wars of aggression themselves. It is a wide-spread perception, especially among the post-war generations, that what happened in the past, like the history of colonial rule, has nothing to do with them. What little sense of guilt that the 'pre-war generations' had has been almost lost on them. This is a consequence of the history education of post-war Japan.

Calling for Our Rational and Strategic Response

Then, for how long will the current situation continue, and what could be the solution? The conflict between Korea and Japan is deeply rooted. At the core of the conflict are the gap in the perception of each other and the fundamental difference in views of history. The bilateral relations so far have been influenced more often by 'national sentiment' than by cool rationality. Emotional response instigating nationalism will only widen the psychological distance rather than solve the problem.

Historically speaking, the two countries are neighbors of fate. There are many tasks at hand that require their cooperation for common interests, such as dealing with North Korea's nuclear threats and the unification of two Koreas. Therefore, we need to cope with the current situation with cool heads while coming up with strategic response with vision for the future.

When it comes to 'comfort women' and other historical issues, one-to-one response with Japan is not effective. Most importantly, it should be addressed openly in the international community, including the United Nations, the United States, and Europe, in accordance with the universal standards of civilized society, because the Japanese people, while they have shown the tendency to ignore the public opinion in Korea and China, are very cautious and sensitive when reacting to developments in of the Western world.

In my view, the current situation between Korea and Japan is a transient phenomenon. When dealing with the Japanese politicians' remarks and actions, we should not overreact but act dignified with a long-term perspective. Since the international community's criticism of the Abe administration's nationalistic behavior has become known to the Japanese people, the intellectuals and civil society of Japan started joining in the criticism. And this trend will spread further. Therefore, it is necessary to appeal more to the civil society and conscientious intellectuals of Japan. Helping the enlightened citizens unite and involve their respective governments will be the most important and effective solution.