Lee
puts Japan-Korea relations on the
rocks By Kosuke Takahashi
TOKYO - August 10, 2012 will be long
remembered in the history of Japan-Korea relations
as a day that laid the seeds for future calamity.
Despite strong demands from Tokyo to
cancel his plans, South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak on Friday made an unprecedented visit to
disputed islets in the Sea of Japan called Dokdo
by Koreans and Takeshima by the Japanese.
The first such trip by a South Korean
president to the islands, this will send
already-chilly Japan-South Korean relations to their
lowest point in decades.
Repercussions will be felt not only in Seoul and
Tokyo, but also Beijing, Washington and Pyongyang,
likely impacting on a united front the US planned
to build against China's naval expansion and North
Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Japan has
summoned South Korea's ambassador to protest
against the visit, a Kyodo news agency report
said. Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba had already
said any such visit "would have a great impact on
Japan-South Korea relations" and that Japan would
"have to respond firmly".
South Korea's
presidential office said the purpose of Lee's
visit to the area was partly to confirm how the
environment on nearby Ulleungdo Island was being
protected. Lee's ministers of environment and
culture accompanied him. It seems Lee is stressing
this purpose of environmental research, perhaps to
appease Tokyo.
His visit came ahead of
August 15, when Korea will mark its independence
in 1945 from Japanese rule. Korean nationalism and
patriotism always rise to the fore at this time.
It seems that Lee, already seen by many as
lame-duck ahead of the presidential election in
December, aims to recover his and his party's
place in political power by fanning ethnic
sentiment.
He also may want to distract
the public from corruption scandals involving his
elder brother and mentor, Lee Sang-deuk, 76, and
his former aides, who were arrested on bribery
charges last month. Lee was forced to apologize to
the public on national television for the
scandals.
"The lame-duck Lee
administration in the last year is trying to make
Japan into a scapegoat," Masao Okonogi, emeritus
professor at Keio University in Tokyo and a noted
expert on the affairs of the Korean Peninsula,
told Asia Times Online on Friday. "In South Korea,
no media can criticize such popularism openly, as
long as the target is Japan."
Hideshi
Takesada, a professor at Yonsei University of
South Korea, echoed Okonogi's views. "Lee has
become a lame duck faster than previous [Korean]
presidents. The damage of the bribery scandals is
also huge. To recover public support for him, he
needs to take a hard-line stance toward Japan,
which is a popular thing in both ruling and
opposition parties as well as among both
conservatives and liberalists."
As if
reflecting growing anti-Korean feelings, on the
Internet young Japanese even been claiming that
Lee is visiting the disputed islands to provoke
racial resentment as both nations face each other
in bronze medal volleyball and soccer matches at
the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Bilateral
relations remain strained over historical issues,
especially the unresolved issue of former "comfort
women", who were mobilized, or often coerced, as
sex slaves during Japan's Asia-Pacific War
(1930-1945).
Although Seoul has repeatedly
demanded the Japanese government compensate the
women, Tokyo has refused to do so, saying it has
no legal obligation to compensate war victims,
including those forced to become laborers and
comfort women.
Moreover, Japan's 2012
Defence White Paper, published by the Japanese
Ministry of Defense on July 31, explicitly
mentioned that the disputed islands were Japan's
"inherent territory", prompting a strong South
Korean protest. For Seoul, the islands are not
only a subject of territorial dispute but also a
legacy of Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonial
occupation. All of these factors have put Tokyo
and Seoul on a collision course.
South
Korea has had a permanent presence on the Dokdo
islands since 1954, but Japan has never renounced
its claim over the territory, which it
incorporated in 1905. Both countries point to
historical records dating back several centuries
to support their cases.
This is not the
only territorial dispute faced by Japan. To the
south, it is engaged in a sovereignty dispute over
the Senkaku Islands (known in China as the Diaoyu
Islands) and competing development of offshore gas
fields in the East China Sea. In the north, it has
the thorny issue of the Russian-held Northern
Territories, known in Russia as the Southern
Kurils.
Russo-Japanese relations have also
deteriorated as Russian Prime Minister Dmitry
Medvedev has repeatedly visited those disputed
islands since November 2010, triggering fierce
protests from Tokyo. "South Korean President Lee
may have taken a cue from Medvedev's visit to
Northern Territories," Okonogi said.
Japan's neighbors appear to be taking
advantage of the country's weakening political and
economic muscle
"Japan is looked down on
by China, so South Korea thinks it not necessary
to make a compromise with Japan," Takesada said.
"This is the centerpiece of Seoul's stance toward
Japan. Since China's influence over South Korea's
economy is growing, people are increasingly
thinking that as long as Seoul maintains good
relations with Beijing, the nation will not have
any difficulties."
In Tokyo, experts say
South Korea is hoping Japan will take on the
dangerous role of having to stand up to China,
while Seoul itself pursues good terms with
Beijing.
Kosuke Takahashi is a
Tokyo-based Japanese journalist. His twitter is
@TakahashiKosuke
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