Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
US to mediate South Korea-Japan dispute
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By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
The United States is expected to work with two of its key allies to improve thorny ties during its senior officials' trip to Asia, according to diplomatic observers, Monday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin began their first overseas trip, Monday, with their first stop in Japan. They are scheduled to arrive in Seoul, Wednesday, for a two-day visit.
Ahead of them embarking on the overseas trip, the first by senior members of the Joe Biden administration, the U.S. State Department issued a statement stressing its trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan, raising speculation that Washington may do something to normalize bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo, which are engaged in ongoing disputes over historical issues and grievances.
Relations between the neighboring countries have slumped to their worst level in years, sparked by Japan's imposition of export controls on three key materials critical for South Korea's semiconductor and display industries, in apparent retaliation to a 2018 ruling by the South Korean Supreme Court ordering Japanese companies to compensate surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.
“No relationship is more important than that between Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK). The United States continues to promote expanded U.S.-Japan-ROK cooperation to tackle COVID-19 and combat climate change, as well as reinvigorate trilateral cooperation on a broad range of global issues, including the denuclearization of North Korea,” the State Department said. The ROK refers to the official name of South Korea.
“A robust and effective trilateral relationship between and among the United States, the ROK, and Japan is critical for our joint security and interests in defending freedom and democracy, upholding human rights, championing women's empowerment, combating climate change, promoting regional and global peace, security, and the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific and across the globe.”
“In its move to contain China and resolve North Korea's nuclear issue, the U.S. believes that three-way cooperation with South Korea and Japan is imperative,” said Shin Beom-chul, the director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.
Kim Yeoul-soo, chief of the Security Strategy Office at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs, said the Biden administration will follow in the footsteps of the Barack Obama administration, in which Biden served as the vice president for eight years.
“Former President Obama thought that amid the South Korea-Japan feud, it could not resolve any problems involving China and North Korea, so the U.S. government urged the two countries to mend fences with each other, resulting in the comfort women deal in 2015 although both sides were not fully satisfied,” Kim said.
In December 2015, the two countries “unexpectedly” signed an agreement to end the decades-long dispute over the issue of the sexual enslavement of Korean women by Japan from 1932 to the end of World War II, after which the South Korean government faced a fierce backlash from victims and the public demanding renegotiations.
“At the time, Blinken was the deputy secretary of state and he is expected to pick up where he left off,” Kim added.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Feb. 26. Blinken, along with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, will visit Korea on Wednesday. AP-Yonhap
However, experts hold mixed opinions on how the U.S. pressure will unfold.
“As Blinken's message is de facto that of President Biden, the South Korean and Japanese governments could not just ignore it,” Kim said.
“In addition, President Moon Jae-in is also showing an apparent shift in tone on Japan from his hardline stance, so the U.S.' mediation could lead to a foreign ministers' meeting between the two countries or talks between their national security offices.”
“In the end, the three heads of state, including the U.S., could end up with a trilateral summit in Britain in June when the United Kingdom is scheduled to host the G7 summit, with South Korea to participate as a guest nation.”
However, Woo Jung-yeop, a research fellow at the Sejong Institute, said it is questionable whether the U.S.' possible mediation could pay off as both the Moon and Yoshihide Suga administrations respond to political sentiments among their electorates.
“The U.S. is complaining of Japan's stubborn refusal of better ties with South Korea, but given the U.S. thinks that the feud originated from the South Korean court ruling on forced labor, Washington may encourage South Korea to seek solutions to the issue as well,” Woo said.
“However, it remains to be seen if the U.S. role may lead to reconciliation between the two countries.”
Shin advised the South Korean government to map out plans regarding those thorny issues in response to the U.S.' possible call.
“The government is required to suggest its plans to the U.S. as well as Japan to show we are willing to mend fences with Tokyo. Otherwise, the U.S. may misunderstand that South Korea is making the situation worse,” he said.