The Chosun Ilbo ran a piece on the new generation of Japanese leaders and the implications on relations between Seoul and Tokyo. Decent piece. Here’s a little sample:
Tension and conflicts between Korea and Japan brings out their [the Japanese neocons'] disposition. A good example are the negotiations for a free trade agreement between the two countries, at a virtual standstill because Japan will not yield on agricultural imports. A Korean Foreign Ministry official said in earlier economic negotiations with Japan, the Koreans only needed to bring up Japan’s past wrongdoings to get the Japanese to concede a point. No longer. Korean negotiators have given up playing the wartime atrocities card, he added.
Read the rest on your own.
4 Comments
For the last while Korea has been trying it’s hardest to “balance the elephants” around it. The noh administration seems to think it is THAT talented to be able to juggle Japan, China, the DPRK, Russia AND the US.
Now they are finding out that these Elephants have far more weight then they remembered.
I keep hearing in the news about the terrible neocons in the U.S. and Japan. What about the leadership of the guy up North? Isn’t that worth reporting?
I think a lot of countries are getting tired of Korea’s trade policies.
Right on, Juggertha — I say it’s about time Korea lost the ability to “play the WW2 card” over any issue it wanted. Abe might be a little reckless but that’s no reason to shy away from a stronger Japan. Typical nonsense editorial.
One wonders exactly how often South Korea has played the “wartime atrocities card” in negotiations with Japan. We know that South Korea has secretly secured reparations once from Japan. (And wants more reparations — at least in some political quarters.) Were there other reparations we don’t know about? Will these sorts of things be written down in Korean textbooks alongside denunciations of Japan’s past aggression? “Yes, the Japanese have never atoned for past aggression, except for all the times they gave us money when we mentioned past aggression, but those times don’t count because they were backroom deals and … uh … involved collaborators.”