The new President of South Korea will make his first official visit to Japan. His conservative predecessor could sign off on the statements and documents adopted at the meeting. 

A necessary retreat

However, one of the most important ideological cores of South Korea since the country’s founding has been anti-Japanese sentiment. This concerns not only legitimate claims against Japan during the years of colonial rule, but is also about fostering and using anti-Japanese sentiment as a distraction from current problems and silencing the elements of Korean-Japanese relations that contradict nationalist discourse. Accusations of pro-Japanese sympathies still hold serious weight despite the fact that there are no politicians in the country who the author would call specifically pro-Japanese in terms of values and image. Moreover, the modern South Korean government is diligently building a discourse in which it presents the democratic camp as the spiritual heirs of the anti-Japanese national liberation movement, which is opposed by conservatives as the spiritual heirs of collaborators. As a result, this dogmatic layer hinders constructive interaction, and the “Japanese card” has been played by politicians from both the democratic and conservative camps.

Let us recall that President Lee Myung-bak defiantly visited the disputed Liancourt Rocks, and the issue of ‘comfort women’ went from public discussions to political solutions thanks to Park Geun-hye, who tried to resolve the issue with the 2015 agreement.

Conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol sincerely tried to change the country’s course. Unlike other presidents, he was not a professional politician who understood well what could and could not be done. In his speeches, Yoon openly stated that “a century after the March First Independence Movement, Japan has transformed from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner who shares with us the same universal values, and we need to build relations in the present rather than remembering the grievances of the past”. The Democrats harshly criticized him for such a statement, even accusing him of betraying the country’s national interests and calling him names for groveling before Japan.

President Lee’s Japanese vector

But then the Democrats came to power, after which many expected a return to the rhetoric of the Moon Jae-in era, since much of South Korean politics is determined by factional struggle. When the Democrats were in opposition, they could not help but criticize the turn towards Japan. However, when it comes to populist politicians like the current Democratic leader, and then........

© New Eastern Outlook