Relations between Japan and South Korea: problems, trends, perspectives

The article examines the current relations between Japan and South Korea in the light of their common historical past. Specific problems rooted in the colonial domination of Japan on the Korean Peninsula in the first half of the 20th century are analyzed. Since the beginning of the 1990s, politicians and officials of both countries trying to solve these problems constantly stressed the need to build “relations oriented to the future” between the two nations. At the turn of the century, Japanese-South Korean relations were characterized by a certain rapprochement between Tokyo and Seoul. Its symbols were the joint holding of the World Cup in 2002, as well as the South Korean boom in Japan. However, this period did not last long, and recently the vector of bilateral relations is increasingly turning into their dramatic past. One of the most dramatic pages in Japan's relations with South Korea dates back to the Pacific War. It is related to the problem of «comfort women» - tens of thousands of young Korean women who were forcibly abducted during the Pacific War to Japanese frontline brothels. Among the problems that complicate relations between Japan and South Korea, the most intractable one is the territorial dispute over two small islands in the Sea of Japan, called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea. Serious bilateral problems include Seoul's claims to name the Sea of Japan as the East Sea. In 2018, relations between Japan and South Korea sharply deteriorated due to the incident with the naval flag of Japan, the conflict over the guidance of a combat radar by a South Korean destroyer on a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. Particular rejection in Japan was caused by the decision of the judicial authorities of South Korea to pay material compensation to its residents for forced labor during the war. The current deterioration of political relations between Japan and South Korea is alarming to the business circles of both countries. The article concludes that the growing tensions between Japan and South Korea are undermining the Japan-US-South Korea trilateral alliance and may lead to a change in the balance of power in Northeast Asia.

«женщины для утешения», Japan, South Korea, Korean Peninsula, Sea of Japan, colonial past, “comfort women”, territorial dispute, Takeshima, Dokdo, Japan-US-South Korea triangle

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