There Should Be More

To repair the chilly Japan–South Korea relations, the two countries have no option but to address the major disputes on the comfort women. President Park is expecting Prime Minister Abe’s statement on August 15, 2015. The statement, according to Abe, aims at “upholding the basic thinking” of his predecessors, former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995 and Junichiro Koizumi in 2005, but may not use the same wording as he hopes to make it more “future-oriented.” Whether Abe should stick to his predecessors’ language in this year’s war statement has been a heated debate within Japan and between Japan and South Korea. Following the same wording may fit the bill for South Korea, but if Abe intends to make different attempts, his new step should be substantial enough for President Park to persuade the domestic audience in South Korea of her toughness toward Japan.

Recently, there has been an intense debate over Prime Minister Abe’s possible decision to not seek Cabinet approval for his upcoming statement. A statement, which bypasses Cabinet approval to tone down the formality of the statement and make it more personal, would lead the current Japan–South Korea relations to two different directions. On the one hand, a statement with personal touch could be conducive to improving Abe’s personal image, removing his tag as a revisionist in South Korea. At the same time, avoiding Cabinet approval may allow Abe to say that his statement is not an update of the previous war anniversary messages. In doing so, Abe could potentially dodge the criticisms of not following the past wording tradition. On the other hand, however, a war statement with a private tone may deepen doubts on Japan’s sincerity in facing its history with humility.

With warming Japan–South Korea relations, there is a growing chance that the two governments can make progress in settling the “comfort women” issue. If an arrangement were to happen, the South Korean government has to proactively and continuously communicate with civic groups in South Korea that support the comfort women and their families in order to obtain their support. Failing to do so will not only leave the long-standing issue continue flare up but also discredit the Park administration as an overly pro-Japan government. A recent survey conducted by the Asahi Shimbun and a Korean daily, the Dong-A Ilbo, shows that there is a true need for President Park to prioritize better relations with Japan by managing Korean sentiments. The survey finds that about 90 percent of respondents respectively from Japan and South Korea are pessimistic about the Japan–South Korea relations. Hopeless as the survey result seem, the poll should not be arbitrarily interpreted as people from the two countries hold a deep-rooted distrust toward each other. The same poll shows that media outlets mainly influence the public views of Japan and Korea toward each other. If a better bilateral relationship is what President Park and Prime Minister Abe are looking for, the poll results can be a blessing in disguise. It highlights a significant approach on which the Park administration and the Abe administration can work together—to carefully promote a positive image of the other country to their domestic audience so as to create a favorable environment for the two governments to negotiate the prickly historical disputes.

Emily S. Chen is a recent graduate at Stanford University with a Master’s degree in East Asian Studies and a focus on international relations. She is a Silas Palmer Fellow with the Hoover Institution and a 2015 Young Leader with the Pacific Forum CSIS. Emily tweets @emilyshchen.

Image: Flickr/ROK