In the face of mounting security challenges in the region, neither Tokyo nor Seoul can afford to wait for another generation to finally bury the proverbial hatchet.
What would Australia do if the US went to war against China? A new book from Melbourne University Press (MUP) explores Australia's role in the Pacific.
President Yoon Suk-yeol stressed again that he would keep pushing to get South Korea s strained relations with Japan back on the right track. “South Korea-Japan relations are not something you can improve dramatically with a single effort,” he said while answering questions from journalists on his way to the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, Monday. “Bilateral ties receded a lot during the past (Moon Jae-in) administration. To normalize it from the current sour relations, we need to keep watching how Koreans and Japanese are reacting and make efforts accordingly.” Yoon touted the possible economic benefits for the two countries if bilateral ties are improved. “South Korean and Japanese businesspeople are among the ones wishing for the improvement of bilateral ties. Once South Korea-Japan relations are getting back on the right track, companies of the two countries will invest in each other s nations and, as a result, job creation and economic growth will follow,” he sa
History sits at the heart of the frigid relationship between South Korea and Japan. Not just the history of Japanese imperialism, but also the history of U.S. strategic interests since 1945. U.S. decision-making stemming from such interests at first framed within the context of fighting the Cold War and now defined by U.S. competition with China has oftentimes exacerbated long-term South Korea-Japan relations in its pursuit of expedient solutions and limited the opportunities and avenues for reconciliation.