Jeju Peace Institute

Under the influence of the reorganized East Asian order in 2010s, the relations between Park Geun-hye government and the Japanese Cabinet of Shinzo Abe have worsened over the history issues and their China policies. The pattern of the security and economic cooperation evading the historical disputes since the normalization of ties with Japan in 1965 has broken down. The conflicts between Korea and Japan over history have subsided with the U.S.-brokered agreement on comfort women on Dec. 28, 2015. However, during the negotiations on the accord, anti-Japanese and anti-Korean sentiments were rekindled in Korea and Japan, with their perceptions of the comfort women issue still remaining wide apart. Yet more pertinent is the difference in their treatment of China that has emerged as a super power. South Korea, as a middle power, regarded the rise of China more as an opportunity for its economy and security than as a threat, and implemented hedging policy toward China. However, Japan perceived China as a threat and tried to check the rise of China with its self-help and balancing policies while asking Korea for cooperation on its China policy. The different postures of the two countries toward China have weakened their cooperation on economic and security affairs. If South Korea needs Japanese cooperation for its national interests, it has to cope with the hedging dilemma of maintaining the strategic partnership with China amid its alliance with the U.S. and its security cooperation with Japan and the U.S. When South Korea succeeds in doing so, it could win support from Japan to denuclearize the peninsula and achieve peace.

Author

SHIN Jung-wha (Associate Professor, Dongseo University)