South Korea seems to be moving to decouple disputes over territorial and historical issues from security and economic cooperation in handling its strained ties with Japan.
The burgeoning shift in Seoul’s stance may be an inevitable response to the U.S. administration’s push to bolster trilateral security cooperation with its two key Asian allies, which is partly aimed at keeping a rising China in check.
This two-track approach can also be a wise strategic decision to allow South Korea to avoid frayed Seoul-Tokyo ties, reducing its leeway in coping with geopolitical changes in Northeast Asia and standing in the way of boosting the economic partnership between the two countries. Nudged by Washington or not, Tokyo also appears ready to do its part of the work to shift the focus in South Korea-Japan relations.
Senior foreign affairs and defense officials from the two countries met in Seoul on Tuesday for their first discussion in more than five years. During the meeting, Japanese participants tried to ease Seoul’s concern about the planned expansion of Tokyo’s military role, saying Japan would respect South Korea’s sovereignty in matters related to defense and security.
Japan is working with the U.S. to revise their defense cooperation guidelines to reflect the decision to exercise the right to collective self-defense. Seoul has made it clear that Tokyo should first win its approval before sending its forces to the Korean Peninsula to help the U.S. in the event of contingencies such as conflict with North Korea.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Japan also proposed holding talks between the defense ministers of the two countries, and South Korean representatives promised to give serious consideration to the proposal.
South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong and his Japanese counterpart Akitaka Saiki joined trilateral talks with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken in Washington on Thursday. The vice foreign ministerial talks among the three countries coincided with a two-day meeting of their senior defense officials, which continued through Friday in the U.S. capital.
The rare string of security consultations were preceded by South Korea’s decision early this week to lift a travel ban on a Japanese journalist on trial in Seoul for defaming President Park Geun-hye. Officials here said no diplomatic consideration had been made in taking the legal step. But the measure was seen by many observers as signaling South Korea’s readiness to improve relations with Japan.
It needs to be noted that this positive series of moves came after Seoul last week lodged a strong protest against Tokyo’s approval of middle school textbooks that mention Japan’s territorial claim to South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.
Cho gave a clear indication of Seoul’s two-track approach Wednesday, stating South Korea will continue to take a “stern” position on historical issues with Japan, while trying to promote cooperation on other areas where “we should increase our national interests, such as the North Korean nuclear issue.”
Blinken, the No. 2 U.S. diplomat, said a day earlier relations between South Korea and Japan appeared to have gotten back on a “profoundly positive trajectory.” His remark, which might be seen as too upbeat, reflected Washington’s wish that its two crucial Asian allies would mend ties so that it could bolster trilateral security posture with them in the region.
The U.S. needs to put more pressure on Japan in this regard to make a clear apology for its pre-1945 wartime atrocities against Koreans and other people. Letting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gloss over his country’s militarist past in his planned speech to a joint session of U.S. Congress later this month would not help South Korea-Japan ties move along a positive trajectory.
