The mini-Cold War between Japan and South Korea has kept Washington busy as it tries to forge closer security ties between its allies to offset the rise of China. Policymakers confront the Asian paradox of deepening distrust and conflict in tandem with widening economic and human exchanges. Relations are handicapped by an ambiance of antagonism that is preventing robust ties between two countries that should be getting along better based on their shared values and strong cultural and economic ties. The Obama administration's "pivot" to Asia depends on greater cooperation between regional allies so Washington is frustrated that the shared history keeps getting in the way. But why wouldn't it?
The vilification of South Korea and President Park Geun-hye in the Japanese media over the past year has been extraordinary. She is accused of "scolding diplomacy," relentlessly insisting that Japan embrace a correct view of history as a basis for improving relations and building trust. South Korean polls show strong support for Park's foreign policy, and she is a popular leader with a 60 percent approval rating. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe polls in low single digits about the same as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while according to the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, South Korean attitudes toward Japan have hit an all-time low.
In a recent article posted on the Asan website, Lee Ching Min at the Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University acknowledges the need for increased strategic cooperation in East Asia with Japan and China over critical issues such as the threat of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, "but not at the expense of ignoring or downplaying Japan's historical amnesia and whitewashing of wartime atrocities." He writes, "business-as-usual with Japan (especially in the security and political sectors) is no longer possible. To begin with, regardless of one's political persuasion and standing, there is wide-ranging consensus in South Korea that Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's more nationalistic policies are being pursued in conjunction with historical revisionism."