Japan Drops South Korea From Favored Trade List As Long-Simmering Tensions Flare : NPR

Dr. Miyake’s comment in the NPR news interview below is quite far from the fact and misrepresenting the geopolitical situation in East Asia. His claim of South Korea’s rebalancing herself away from the US and Japan and closer to North Korea and China is completely out of his ignorance of South Korean politics. It is in fact the opposite. The current South Korean government relies on her alliance and close military tie with the US more than ever in the process of the denuclearization of North Korea, which is currently under the truce with South Korea and the US. This is one of the most important issue for the current South Korean administration and the major shift has been made in recent two years after Moon and Trump start driving the issue in close cooperation. The shift is from the six party negotiation toward the top down approach making the third party countries such as China, Russia, and Japan not directly involved in the negotiation with North Korea.  Thus the current negotiation with North Korea by South Korea and the US may alienate both China and Japan in the denuclearization talk with North Korea. But the team play between South Korea and the US has been put the most emphasis by all political parties in South Korea not to mention the current government.

The Cold War is not over, contrary to what he says, from the perspectives of ordinary South Korean people. Most South Koreans see the miserable face of the Cold War everyday when they hear about military conflicts and casualties in the border between North and South Koreas, North Korean missile tests, annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the US, and when their sons or relatives are ordered to serve in the army.

Unfortunately, the news report as well as his mistaken analysis totally misses the most important "shifts at work behind Tokyo’s measures”, which are related with the political goals of Japanese prime minister Abe. Mr. Abe has openly spoken about his strong vision to change the current military balance in East Asia, toward strengthening Japan’s military power and increasing Japan’s direct influence, rather than relying on the alliance of the US, on resolving East Asian geopolitical conflicts in Japan’s favor, and changing the current “peace" constitution made by the US after the second world war so that Japan can build up independent military forces with official international recognition. Abe’s recent ruling against exporting to Korean major industries is driven heavily by the political goals of himself and his right-wing associates with the militarist vision reminiscent of Japanese militarism at the time of World War II. Japanese politics has experienced a drastic right-wing shift in recent 10 years toward strengthening military power, raising tension with neighboring countries such as China, South Korea, Russia. The current Japanese administration enjoys strong support by the extreme right wing Nazi-like support groups, who advocate a kind of racism spreading hatred against people in their neighboring country, South Korea.

 

Japan Drops South Korea From Favored Trade List As Long-Simmering Tensions Flare : NPR:

"Korean foreign policy is changing," argues Kunihiko Miyake, research director at The Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo. He says Japan has watched with dismay as Moon has rebalanced South Korea's foreign policy away from the U.S. and Japan, and closer to North Korea and China.

"They know that the Cold War is over," Miyake says. "They know that China is on the rise. They know that the Americans are not dependable anymore."

He says Japan's move is less focused on bilateral ties and more "concerned about the South Korean departure from the tripartite alliance" of Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week pledged to nudge his Japanese and Korean counterparts to "find a way forward."

But Miyake says that Washington remained silent for too long.

"Americans might have had opportunities in the past to do something to unwind or solve these disputes," he says.

The window of opportunity that might have been open a year or two ago is now shut, Miyake says. Political decisions in Seoul and Tokyo are signed and sealed, and it will be hard for anyone to walk them back.