{"id":2200666,"date":"2023-04-07T18:49:25","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T09:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2200666"},"modified":"2023-04-10T19:55:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T10:55:00","slug":"servant-of-japan-south-koreas-opposition-challenges-yoons-rapprochement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/04\/servant-of-japan-south-koreas-opposition-challenges-yoons-rapprochement\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Servant of Japan\u2019: South Korea\u2019s opposition challenges Yoon\u2019s rapprochement"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the U.S. rallies its regional allies against China and North Korea, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is working to improve relations with the country\u2019s former colonizer Japan. However, the South Korean opposition party is strongly protesting this move toward reconciliation, which could lead to obstacles in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yoon has already upset the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) by deciding that Seoul, rather than Tokyo, would <\/span>compensate<\/span><\/a> Korean victims of forced labor during the colonial era. In response to Yoon\u2019s decision, the DP <\/span>labeled<\/span><\/a> it as humiliating, and one former victim <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>, \u201cI won’t accept [South Korean money] even if I starve to death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Further controversy arose when <\/span>reports<\/span><\/a> emerged from Japanese media suggesting that Tokyo had raised other contentious issues during Yoon\u2019s recent <\/span>summit<\/span><\/a> with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, such as the disputed Dokdo islets and South Korea\u2019s ban on seafood imports from Fukushima.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Yoon administration <\/span>maintains<\/span><\/a> that the Japanese media reports were \u201ccompletely groundless or distorted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the DP is loudly voicing its dissatisfaction about Yoon\u2019s policy toward Japan, going so far as to call him a \u201c<\/span>servant of Japan<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

South Korean and Japanese leaders Yoon Suk-yeol (left) and Fumio Kishida, March 16, 2023 | Image: ROK Presidential Office<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

DOKDO OR DOKDON’T<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the media reports that Japanese officials brought up Dokdo during the summit meeting, Lee Jae-myung <\/span>proposed<\/span><\/a> designating Oct. 25 as \u201cDokdo Day.\u201d The date is symbolic as Gojong passed an <\/span>ordinance<\/span><\/a> in 1900 that stipulated that Dokdo fell under the jurisdiction of Ulleungdo, a county in North Gyeongsang Province.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gojong was the first emperor of the short-lived Korean Empire.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dokdo is a point of contention between Seoul and Tokyo, with South Korea in control of the islets, while Japan also lays claim to the territory, which it refers to as Takeshima.<\/span><\/p>\n

Memories of Japanese occupation remain raw in South Koreans\u2019 collective consciousness, and the country is highly protective of the islets. The country has dedicated enormous resources to promote their claims, including regular military drills, public displays on everything from the airport subway line to a <\/span>Dokdo Museum<\/span><\/a> and even a <\/span>Dokdo song<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

DP chief Lee <\/span>argued<\/span><\/a> that if Tokyo claimed that Dokdo is Japanese territory at the summit, \u201cthe president of the Republic of Korea should storm out of the meeting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A separate report in Japanese media also caused outrage in South Korea. On March 29, the <\/span>Sankei Shimbun <\/span><\/i>newspaper reported that a senior member of the Japanese Cabinet <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that Tokyo should \u201cmake a strong push\u201d on Dokdo after the forced labor issue, \u201cgiven [Yoon\u2019s] forward-looking attitude about improving Japan-Korea relations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To some South Koreans, this might suggest that Japan aims to exploit Yoon\u2019s efforts to improve relations by pressuring him to concede on longstanding issues \u2014 even on issues that the vast majority of South Koreans would consider unthinkable.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

South Korea has exercised administrative control over the Dokdo islets since the mid-20th century, Sept. 25, 2016 | Image: Republic of Korea Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

FUKUSHIMA FISH FIGHT<\/b><\/p>\n

The DP is also pressuring Yoon and the ruling party not to relent on South Korea\u2019s ban on seafood from Fukushima.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Japanese media reports surfaced regarding discussions on the ban during the summit in March, Lee <\/span>called on<\/span><\/a> Yoon to publicly declare that the ban would remain in place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The ROK has enforced a ban on seafood from the region for the past decade, although evidence suggests <\/span>there is no danger<\/span><\/a> from ingesting Japanese fish as a result of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the Yoon administration <\/span>confirmed<\/span><\/a> the seafood ban will continue indefinitely, the DP switched to another related issue \u2014 Japan’s plans to release treated radioactive wastewater from the disabled Fukushima nuclear power plant.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, DP lawmakers <\/span>visited<\/span><\/a> the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, requesting Japan to suspend its plan to release the wastewater and to stop asking South Korea to lift the seafood ban. A group of DP lawmakers then traveled to Japan to gather more information on the situation by <\/span>visiting Fukushima<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) <\/span>confirming<\/span><\/a> that Japan’s plans to release the water are safe, some lawmakers <\/span>asserted<\/span><\/a> that \u201cSouth Korea can\u2019t leave it up to the IAEA alone\u201d because \u201cthere are so many unaddressed questions\u201d without specifying which questions the atomic authority has not addressed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As many South Koreans are <\/span>apprehensive<\/span><\/a> about the potential effect of the wastewater release from Fukushima, the DP is likely to gain support for their efforts to draw attention to the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n

GOING FORWARD<\/b><\/p>\n

However sympathetic the South Korean public may be to critical approaches on all things Japan, Yoon is unlikely to be deterred from his pursuit of rapprochement with Tokyo. He has invested far too much political capital and received significant criticism for his efforts so far, suggesting that he will not back down from his position.<\/span><\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s constant missile launches and China\u2019s growing influence in the region will also help Yoon convince South Koreans that they need to cooperate with Japan on security matters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to North Korea’s missile launches and China’s growing influence in the region, Seoul and Tokyo will likely <\/span>build off<\/span><\/a> the <\/span>agreement<\/span><\/a> between Yoon and Kishida to normalize the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). And there will likely be more <\/span>trilateral military drills<\/span><\/a> with the U.S.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On many other issues related to Japan, the DP looks set to fight Yoon every step of the way. This will not only temper the pace of rapprochement but also bodes ill for Tokyo if the DP manages to take power again in the next few years.<\/span><\/p>\n

From its missile defense policy to pursuing detente with Pyongyang and now with Tokyo, South Korea\u2019s national security decision-making has wildly swung from one end of the political spectrum to the other anytime a different party took over the presidency. And Yoon\u2019s popularity remains <\/span>perpetually low<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Edited by John Lee<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Domestic Politics<\/span><\/a>Inter-Korean & Foreign Relations<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the U.S. rallies its regional allies against China and North Korea, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is working to improve relations with the country\u2019s former colonizer Japan. However, the South Korean opposition party is strongly protesting this move toward reconciliation, which could lead to obstacles in the future. Yoon has already upset the main […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10407,"featured_media":2200662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[27,28],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Servant of Japan\u2019: South Korea\u2019s opposition challenges Yoon\u2019s rapprochement - KOREA PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/04\/servant-of-japan-south-koreas-opposition-challenges-yoons-rapprochement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Servant of Japan\u2019: South Korea\u2019s opposition challenges Yoon\u2019s rapprochement - KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the U.S. rallies its regional allies against China and North Korea, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is working to improve relations with the country\u2019s former colonizer Japan. 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