Five long-standing problems for Japan-South Korea ties

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to visit Seoul on Sunday, as the allies look to bury the historical hatchet and boost ties.

It will be the first official bilateral visit by a Japanese leader to South Korea in over a decade, but what exactly are the problems that have bedevilled relations between the two East Asian countries?

AFP takes a look at what we know:

– ‘Comfort women’ –

“Comfort women” is a euphemistic term referring to women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during World War II.

The Japanese government denies direct responsibility for the abuses that as many as 200,000 women suffered, maintaining that they were recruited by civilians and that the brothels were commercially operated.

The practice shot to public attention when South Korean victim Kim Hak Sun came forward in 1991 to testify about her experience, inspiring hundreds of victims from South Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere to speak out.

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The two governments agreed on a fund to compensate victims in 2015, but it was torn up three years later by a new administration in Seoul.

Victims groups are still fighting for an official apology, and have funded statues of a young victim, including one that stands in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.

– Forced labour –

Around 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour during Japan’s colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, when Tokyo controlled the entire Korean peninsula, Seoul’s data shows.

South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered a Japanese firm to pay compensation in 2018, triggering a years-long dispute that expanded to economic and military ties.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol announced a plan in March to compensate victims without Tokyo’s direct involvement, a move unpopular with both victims and the Korean public.

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Japanese media reports suggest Kishida may reaffirm Tokyo’s previous statements of apology for its wartime aggression during his visit.

“The best possible scenario from the Korean perspective is for Kishida to apologise in his own words,” Benjamin A. Engel, research professor at the Institute of International Affairs at Seoul National University, told AFP.

“Even then it probably won’t be enough for many Koreans, but if Kishida has nothing new to say compared with the previous meeting the summit will not be well received in Korea.”

– Dokdo/Takeshima –

The two countries have a long-standing territorial dispute over small rocky islands off South Korea’s eastern coast, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese.

The islands have been administered by Seoul since 1945, when Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, liberating Korea from colonial rule. Japan also claims them.

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A visit to the islands by a South Korean lawmaker this week drew a diplomatic protest from Tokyo. Seoul rebuffed the protest, saying Tokyo’s “claims about our territory cannot be accepted”.

Choi Gi-il, professor of military studies at Sangji University, said the issue is “very sensitive” and may be a tricky one for Yoon to navigate at the upcoming summit with Kishida.

“I expect him to avoid or tone down the subject,” he told AFP.

– Trade dispute –

Seoul and Tokyo have been embroiled in a bitter trade dispute since 2019 stemming from the spat over forced labour.

The economic tit-for-tat measures saw South Korean tech firms such as Samsung scrambling to find alternative suppliers, while Japan’s economy took a hit from Seoul’s boycott of Japanese products.

But the two countries are trying to resolve things.

Seoul restored Tokyo to its “white list” of trusted trade partners last week, with Japan expected to reciprocate soon.

Following Yoon’s visit in March, Tokyo lifted export controls on materials needed for South Korean semiconductors, while Seoul dropped a WTO complaint against Japan.

“It’s a return to the normal,” said Choi Eunmi, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

“Things that were suspended for a while are being restored.”

– Military intelligence –  

A military intelligence-sharing pact between South Korea and Japan is a key focal point of defence cooperation.

The two US allies have been able to share military secrets, particularly involving North Korea’s nuclear and missile capacity, under the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) since 2016.

But it became subject to political repercussions when the then-left-leaning Moon Jae-in government threatened to terminate it in 2019 as relations with Tokyo soured.

Yoon moved to normalise the pact in March. The two neighbours also staged joint naval exercises with the United States this year off the Korean peninsula.

The drills also underscored historical sensitivities: official photos of the exercises released by Seoul do not show the ensign of Japan’s naval force, known as the rising sun, which is associated with colonial rule in Korea.