In the past month, Japan-South Korean bilateral ties have been rocked by several contentious issues: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Dec. 26; the opening of a memorial hall on Jan. 19 in Harbin, China, in honor of Ahn Jun Geun, a Korean independence activist who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, Japan's first prime minister and the first resident general of Korea; and new NHK Chairman Katsuto Momii's controversial remark on Jan. 25 about wartime sex slaves. Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye must make serious efforts to put bilateral relations back on track and strive to build mutual trust.
The opening of the memorial hall to honor Ahn represents a destabilizing development in the triangular relationship among Japan, China and South Korea. When Park visited China last June and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, she proposed erecting a simple stone monument in honor of Ahn. China responded to her proposal by building something far greater. It opened a memorial hall dedicated to Ahn at a prominent location facing a busy square in Harbin. Ahn assassinated Ito at Harbin Station on Oct. 26, 1909, in protest of Japan's rule over the Korean Peninsula, and was executed on March 26, 1910, by Japanese authorities.
The opening of the hall signified China's readiness to form a united front with South Korea against Japan in dealing with issues related to historical perception. And the Abe administration can claim much of the credit for bringing the two together. Several years ago, China ordered the removal of a simple bronze statue near the station out of consideration for ties with Japan. But Abe's nationalistic actions since taking office have significantly changed Beijing's outlook, as the new memorial to Ahn demonstrates.