By Richard Colapinto
Aug. 15 – On Friday, Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea after President Lee Myung-bak made an unprecedented visit by a sitting president to disputed islands in the Sea of Japan. The rocky outcrop of islands, known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, are claimed as sovereign territory by both governments and is believed to contain vast deposits of natural resources.
President Lee landed on one of the Dokdo islands by helicopter and stayed there for a little over an hour to eat pizza and chicken with South Korean policeman stationed in the territory.
The visit was apparently driven by domestic public opinion as the Lee Administration has been grappling with corruption scandals and accusations from the political opposition of being too pro-Japanese.
The Lee Government came under fire domestically because, earlier this year, Japan and South Korea announced the conclusion of a landmark intelligence sharing agreement. The latter was forced to put off signing it due to the loud negative reaction it received from the public.
Charges of being pro-Japanese remain sensitive in South Korea from the raw emotions that still exist over atrocities committed by the Japanese military against Koreans during the occupation until the end of World War II.
However, the response and apparent willingness of the South Korean Government to stoke nationalism over the islands dispute to serve domestic political needs is threatening relations with Japan and contributing to simmering tensions across East Asia among claimant countries to disputed islands in the South China Sea.
The repercussions were also felt in the London Olympics over the weekend after South Korea defeated Japan in the bronze medal soccer game and a South Korean player was refused the awarding of his medal when he produced a political sign with nationalist wording regarding South Korea’s sovereignty over the Dokdo Islands.
The strain in relations comes amid the backdrop of a renewed focus on East Asia as a result of the Asian “pivot” by the United States which is meant to counter the increasing influence of China and to reassure the security concerns of smaller allied and nonallied countries in the region.
As part of this strategy, the United States supported more direct security cooperation between its close allies Japan and South Korea. The intelligence sharing agreement was seen as a major step in that direction.
The Lee Government must be careful and not take the island dispute too far to see relations with Japan irreparably damaged. Japan would do well to recognize the predicament that the Lee Government found itself in after the agreement was announced and take further steps to soothe Korean public opinion of Japan. In the end, the security of East Asia is the paramount goal of all involved and should not continue to be held hostage by actions in the past.
This article originally appeared on the Atlantic Sentinel.
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It’s very simple. Japan’s war crimes in both China and Korea were many and vicious. Today, besides the various books on WWII there are still some survivors from the Japanese occupations that can recount to the younger generations in both China and Korea of their wartime experiences. In contrast in Japan, the politicians play down Japan’s past and approved school text-books there do not go into much detail about Japan’s imperial adventures nor of any of the atrocities committed by her military in Asia during the 1930s up to the end of WWII. In that context, it is understandable that people from both China and S. Korea (and other nations) find it contemptable that Japanese ministers visit the Yasukini Shrine. There are still fourteen class A Japanese war criminals still interred there as well as a museum that commemorates and documents Japan’s wars from the perspective of the conservative right wing.
It’s very simple. South Korea acts in a cowardly way like giving hard slaps to Japan just after shaking hands with it with a good smile. Despite its rapid economic growth since its financial reconstruction led by the IMF, South Korea is now facing disparities between haves and have-nots. In order to avoid fury of the poor at the government, South Korean authority has successfully turned it to fomenting their nationalism, above all, anti-Japanese sentiments.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made contradictory comments as to its relationships with Japan: Japanese government has to take responsibility of sex slavery and change its history education while he wants to build future-oriented ties with Japan. (as the above article mentioned, Japanese government has already recompense its issue when Japan and South Korea concluded the 1965 Japan-South Korea Basic Treaty – Actually, S Korean government had concealed its fact until recent years and had never provided any payments awarded by Japan in 1965 to the victims.
The majority of Japanese people was taken aback at his remarks and surprise visit to the disputed islets in the Sea of Japan, as well as South Korean soccer player Park Jong-woo’s political demonstration in the London Olympics. This is because many Japanese people have enjoyed Korean entertainment and pop culture, whose movement called “hanliu”. A large number of South Korean pop stars visited Japan with amiable reactions and comments to their Japanese fans – without any hostile views and attitudes on bilateral history. (Today, one of them swim across the ocean between Ulsan in S korea and the islets as another political performance.)
Today, Japan and its citizens expressed their sorrow at the death of war victims, including the dead or killed in Asia and the Pacific region by Japanese Imperial Military. It also means the nation vows to keep the world peace. In the meanwhile, South Koreans make every effort to strengthen their nationalism and hostile performance against Japan.