Category: Japan

The relocation of MCAS Futenma on Okinawa is starting to turn into the Yongsan Garrison relocation boondoggle that Korea experienced over multiple decades:

The relocation of a U.S. Marine Corps base to a less-crowded area of the southern Japanese island of Okinawa will take more than twice as much money and time as previously estimated because of the need to stabilize the reclaimed land it will be built on, Japan’s government said Wednesday.

The Defense Ministry said the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from densely populated Ginowanto Henoko on Okinawa’s eastern coast will cost $8.5 billion and take 12 years, pushing its completion into the 2030s. That adds more than a decade to the plan, which has already been delayed by more than 20 years because of local opposition and other reasons.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if this project will be filled with the shoddy construction and corruption like what we saw in the Yongsan Garrison relocation?

Now the Moon administration is bickering with the Japanese on why they caved on the cancellation of the GSOMIA:

South Korea and Japan clashed Sunday over an agreement on keeping alive their military information-sharing pact, casting a pall on upcoming negotiations over the agreement.

The move came two days after South Korea conditionally suspended the expiry of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), six hours before it was due to lapse.

South Korea also decided to temporarily halt a petition process at the World Trade Organization while negotiations with Japan on the two sides’ export control policies go on.

“In the future negotiations, everything depends on Japan’s attitude,” Chung Eui-yong, director of Cheong Wa Dae’s national security office, told reporters at an exhibition center in the southeastern port city of Busan, noting South Korea’s recent decisions are conditional and provisional.

A key condition of the suspension is that South Korea can terminate the military pact at any time it wants and Japan has expressed “understanding” over it, according to South Korea. (………)

“We have no choice but to express deep regret” over the Japanese behavior, Chung said, calling the Japanese moves a “breach of faith.”

Chung also slammed Japanese leaders for their reported remarks that South Korea caved in to U.S. pressure and that Japan had achieved a diplomatic victory, describing them as untrue.

A senior presidential official also said it would be very disappointing if Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s reported comments are true. Japanese media reported that Abe said Japan had made no concessions.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears that the media in Japan is pushing the 5x times greater spending narrative for U.S. troops just like the Korean media:

Japan’s government on Sunday denied a report it had been asked to fork over five times as much as it now pays to support United States forces stationed in the country.

Kyodo News reported Saturday that Japan had rejected a request for the funding increase that was delivered by John Bolton, then national security adviser to President Donald Trump, when he visited Tokyo in July.

Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono refuted the report, according to a transcript of a Sunday press conference posted on the Defense Ministry’s website.

In Japan’s fiscal 2019 draft budget, about $1.8 billion has been earmarked to host U.S. forces, which include more than 50,000 servicemembers, mostly stationed on Okinawa. Japan would have to pay more than $9 billion annually if it had acceded to the request, Kyodo reported.

The talk about cost-sharing echoes news from South Korea, where U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday called on the government to increase its share of the cost to support 28,500 U.S. troops stationed on the divided peninsula.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but this is called negotiations. I am sure the U.S. side gave a big number to start out with that will be reduced over time to amount both sides can live with. What will be interesting to see over time is the difference in reactions between the Japanese and Korean governments over this issue.

I guess we will see if this leads to any resolution to the trade dispute between the two countries:

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday he has had a “meaningful” meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that could herald the start of dialogue for mending soured ties between Seoul and Tokyo.

Moon held an 11-minute conversation with Abe on Monday ahead of an ASEAN Plus Three summit in Bangkok, the first one-on-one talks in more than a year amid frayed ties.

“I’ve held a meaningful meeting with Abe that could be a start point for dialogue,” Moon said on his social media, wrapping up his three-day trip to Thailand for ASEAN-related summits.

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae characterized it as a face-to-face conversation, neither a formal summit nor a “pull aside.” But Moon and Abe agreed to resolve pending issues via dialogue during a meeting held in a “very friendly and serious” mood, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This should come as no surprise the Okinawa governor is against any weapons that could be used to defend the island:

As the Pentagon hunts for sites to deploy missiles against a rising China, Okinawa’s governor is warning the U.S. to steer clear of the southern Japanese prefecture.

Governor Denny Tamaki said in an interview Friday that any U.S. attempt to base intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Okinawa would be firmly opposed by the local people. Tamaki, who was elected last year on a campaign to get the Marines’ Futenma air base out of the prefecture, argues the region already shoulders an unfair burden by hosting about half of the 50,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan.

“Intermediate-range ballistic missiles can be used to attack other countries, so deploying them would conflict with the constitution and lead to a further build-up of the U.S. bases,” Tamaki, 60, told Bloomberg News. “To have new military facilities would be absolutely unacceptable.”

Bloomberg

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see where the U.S. is able to put missiles to counter China.

I seriously doubt the Moon administration will cut any deal with the Japanese on the forced labor issue because what will the Korean left campaign on in the Parliamentary elections next year? They need this issue as a distractor from the economic woes facing the country and the Cho Kuk corruption mess:

 From creating a fund to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor to entrusting a civilian panel with addressing the thorny issue, a flurry of proposals are raising cautious hope for a thaw in frosty ties between Seoul and Tokyo.

Diplomatic circles, scholars and media in both countries have put forward the ideas while Seoul and Tokyo have been exploring a diplomatic off-ramp — or at least a path for de-escalation — through a series of high-level or working-level talks in recent months.

“These proposals illustrate the resilience of the Seoul-Tokyo relationship at work, when both countries apparently feel fatigued about their ties having long been on a collision course,” Nam Chang-hee, a professor of international politics at Inha University, said.

This week, Japan’s Kyodo News reported that Seoul and Tokyo are weighing the idea that the government and companies in South Korea, with the participation of Japanese firms, set up a fund under the name of “economic cooperation,” not as compensation for forced labor.

Seoul’s foreign ministry rejected the report as “untrue,” while reiterating its “openness” to searching for a solution “acceptable to the victims and people of both countries.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but what I think is going on is that each side trying to create the appearance that they are the ones that are being reasonable by trying to work towards a solution knowing full well one will not be agreed upon.

This is clearly just more anti-Japanese stir of the pot in South Korea. This commercial makes absolutely no reference to anything in regards to comfort women:

The Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo has pulled an ad from South Korean TV after it was accused of mocking victims of wartime sexual slavery.

The company said it had stopped airing the 15-second ad after critics pointed out that the Korean-language subtitles appeared to question the testimony of women who said they were forced to work in Japanese military brothels across Asia before and during the second world war. (……)

In the ad, the 97-year-old model Iris Apfel is asked by the 13-year-old designer Kheris Rogers how she dressed when she was her age. Apfel replies: “I can’t remember that far back.” But the version with Korean subtitles gave Apfel’s reply as: “Oh my God, how can I remember what happened more than 80 years ago?”

The Korea Herald said some viewers interpreted the time reference as an attempt to ridicule former sex slaves and forced labourers, whose recollections of abuses have been questioned by rightwing politicians and academics in Japan.

The Guardian

You can read more at the link, but this company is trying to sell clothes to Koreans, do people really think they would make a commercial to ridicule Korean comfort women?

As I have been saying the Korean left in order to help their parliamentary election chances next year, have to keep stirring the pot of anti-Japanese in South Korea. Continue to expect every little thing they can sensationalize or just make up to stir anti-Japanese sentiment to continue.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this meeting. With President Moon greatly sliding in the pools I expect he will turn to nationalism to try and stop the slide. Cutting a deal with the Japanese would then not be in his political interest. Could Lee be going to Japan to offer Abe a deal they know he will not accept just for the domestic political impact in South Korea?:

South Korea’s Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon is expected to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next Thursday in what would be the highest-level talks between the two countries since Tokyo imposed export curbs in a deepening trade and diplomatic spat, Seoul officials said on Friday.

Lee is scheduled to visit Tokyo for Oct. 22-24 to attend Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony on behalf of President Moon Jae-in.

Both sides are trying to finalize a meeting between Lee and Abe on Oct. 24 following a banquet hosted by Abe the day before, Lee’s office said in a statement.

Reuters

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the ROK is trying to play nice with Japan. I guess we will see if leads to any positive developments:

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon is scheduled to visit Tokyo next week to attend the Japanese emperor’s enthronement event, his office said Sunday, in what is seen as a move to mend soured relations between the two neighbors.

Lee will visit Japan from Oct. 22-24 for the ceremony, according to a statement by the prime minister’s office. His itinerary includes the enthronement event on Oct. 22 followed by a banquet hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Oct. 23.

The prime minister’s office also said Lee will meet with “key officials in Japan’s political and business circles” and will host a meeting with Korean residents and immigrants in the country.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This plan does not solve the heart of the problem which is South Korea trying to confiscate Japanese property in South Korea which Tokyo believes is in violation of the 1965 treaty that normalized relations between the two countries:

A Korean-Japanese parliamentary group is promoting an idea to break the diplomatic logjam between the two countries that involves Seoul returning to a bilateral intelligence-sharing pact and Tokyo cancelling export restrictions, a member of the group exclusively told the JoongAng Ilbo on Tuesday.

One “important opportunity” for both countries to decide on such a “simultaneous action plan” will come at the end of this month, when Seoul dispatches an official to Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony on Oct. 22 in Tokyo, the source continued.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this whole thing could be ended if President Moon agrees that confiscation of Japanese property in South Korea will not happen.