After Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s successful trip to America, South Korean media and its people were up in arms. Seoul criticized Abe for not making unambiguous apologies for Japanese wartime brutalities during his speech to the U.S. Congress and critiqued his use of the term “human trafficking” in reference to Japanese soldier’s abuse of Korean comfort women during World War II.
The heightened tension in the always fraught relationship between South Korea and Japan dates back to 2012, when then–South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited Dokdo Island (referred to as Takeshima by Japan), which is the cause of a territorial dispute between the two countries. After Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in December 2013, which was perceived by some as further indication that Abe is a nationalist with a revisionist view of Japan’s military history, the relationship deteriorated further. Since then, South Korea has requested a sincere apology from Japan as a precondition for further progress in the relationship.
Despite their geographical proximity and shared values, Japan and South Korea have had minimal diplomatic relations. Since South Korean President Park Geun-hye took office in February 2013, she has refused to have a bilateral meeting with Abe. A recent poll conducted by the ASAN Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul found that the South Korean people’s opinions of Abe and Japan were barely higher than their opinions of Kim Jong-un and North Korea.
Political discord between Seoul and Tokyo has negatively impacted their economic relationship. This February, the two countries allowed their 14-year-old currency swap agreement to expire. The agreement was once viewed as a symbol of economic cooperation in East Asia.
There are still some silver linings within the relationship. Earlier this month in Seoul, 300 economic leaders from Korea and Japan asked to hold summit talks and revisit the issue of a Korea–Japan Free Trade Agreement. The Korean government recently signaled its willingness to initiate a two-track foreign policy toward Japan, stating that Korea is willing to separate historical issues from government and economic relations. South Korea and Japanese defense chiefs are expected to hold bilateral talks later this month in Singapore for the first time in four years.
The strained relationship between South Korea and Japan is detrimental to U.S. interests. The importance of a trilateral alliance in Northeast Asia cannot be overemphasized—especially when considering security concerns posed by North Korea and China. There hasn’t been any significant progress among the three countries since trilateral summit talks in the Hague in 2014.
The U.S. can act as a bridge connecting the two. Last week in Seoul, Secretary of State John Kerry stated that the two countries should “engage in a direct dialogue toward a mutually acceptable resolution that promotes healing and facilitates future-oriented relationship.”
Experts at a May 18 seminar held at the ASAN Institute in Washington, DC, proposed a “Grand Bargain.” Brad Glosserman of the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies asserted that Japan should strive to resolve the bilateral conflict by taking proactive steps: “We call upon Japan to give up its claim over Dokdo and we also call for payments from the Japanese government to comfort women.”
Scott Snyder, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that Korea should “essentially accept and forgive” apologies from Japan and put more effort into building a relationship focused on the future rather than on the past.
Deterioration in South Korea–Japan relations is bad for both countries. President Park’s visit to the U.S. next month and Abe’s upcoming statement marking the 70th anniversary of the war’s end in August provide welcome opportunities to restore ties. After three years of seemingly endless morass, it is finally time to move on.
