The Korean left is trying to turn a data leak dispute involving Naver’s Line app service in Japan into a major bilateral political issue:
Korean politicians are criticizing Seoul’s passive response to Tokyo’s apparent pressure on Korean tech giant Naver to sell its stakes in LY Corp., the Tokyo-headquartered operator of mobile messaging app Line.
They, from both ruling and opposition blocs, called the Korean government’s diplomacy “miserable” as it has not made any response while Japan is trying to “extort” technologies of the Korea-developed app, which has approximately 180 million active users in Japan and Southeast Asian nations.
Their criticism follows the Japanese government’s administrative guidance to LY to review its capital relationship with Naver after a massive data leak of user information.
The guidance is believed to be an apparent pressure to lower Naver’s control over LY. SoftBank, which jointly owns LY with Naver, said it is talking with the Korean company about controlling the joint venture.
Lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), who serve on the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee and the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, held a press conference Sunday, calling for a National Assembly-level response to Japan’s attempt to “extort Line” from Naver.
“The Japanese government’s actions are a clear violation of national interests and an anti-market outrage. It is time for the National Assembly to do its job. We demand that relevant standing committees be convened immediately and the Assembly deal with the matter,” Reps. Jo Seoung-lae and Lee Yong-sun said.
“The Yoon Suk Yeol government should no longer turn a blind eye and respond proactively by upgrading this situation to a major diplomatic issue between the two countries.”
They also said the Korean government should take a strong stance, including summoning the Japanese ambassador to Korea.
Last week, the DPK called the Korean government’s response “a diplomatic disaster,” saying, “How long must we endure the dismal diplomacy that cannot even say a word of protest against Japan’s effort to take Line from Naver?”
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but what we don’t know is what the Yoon administration may be quietly trying to do in discussions with the Japanese side to advocate for Naver.
If Jimmy Kimmel is shocked by how clean Japan is, he would probably have a heart attack if he visited Singapore:
The late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said observing hygiene standards in Japan drastically changed his perspective of cleanliness in the US and that he’d “never felt dirtier” in his home country.
Kimmel said Tuesday evening on an episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that before going to Japan on a seven-day family trip, he thought the US was “pretty buttoned-up” despite having areas for improvement.
“But now, after traveling to Japan, I realize that this place, this USA we’re always chanting about, is a filthy and disgusting country,” he said.
Kimmel added that he was blown away, in particular, by Japan’s bathrooms.
“Not only did I not encounter a single dirty bathroom, the bathrooms in Tokyo and Kyoto are cleaner than our operating rooms here,” Kimmel said.
The TV star lauded the loos at Japanese truck stops, which he said were “cleaner than Jennifer Garner’s teeth.”
“It’s like the whole country is Disneyland, and we’re living at Six Flags. I’ve been home 36 hours. I’ve never felt dirtier,” he said.
Kimmel added that he was impressed by how Tokyo residents didn’t litter despite the lack of public trash cans, which were removed by local authorities in the wake of the 1995 sarin gas attacks.
“They’re like, OK, no more trash cans. Everybody clean up after yourselves. And guess what? They clean up after themselves,” Kimmel said.
“We are like hogs compared to the Japanese. I can’t imagine what they must think of us,” Kimmel said. “Oh, the garbage people. Yes, the Americans. Garbage. Yes.”
Yahoo News
You can read more at the link, but I think his criticism is mostly correct, but in most smaller towns in the U.S. I still find to be very clean, but larger cities due to all the homeless, drugs, and crime have turned into absolute dumps. I believe if homelessness, drugs, and crime issues are improved the cleanliness of cities would improve with it.
It appears to be more about domestic politics in Japan than actually making any breakthrough with North Korea:
Why is Kishida so interested in holding a summit with Kim? According to expert analysis, Kishida needs a diplomatic breakthrough to change the bleak trajectory of his premiership, which has been plagued by domestic scandals. The approval rating of his Cabinet dipped to a dismal 20.1 percent in February 2024, right when public discussion of a Kim-Kishida summit ramped up. North Korea seems to agree with this analysis; Kim Yo Jong’s March statement claimed that Kishida was not serious about improving Japan-North Korea ties but only seeking a summit in a “bid for popularity.”
Another potential motivation for Kishida is that inter-Korean relations are facing serious challenges during South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s term, and North Korea-U.S. relations are relatively deadlocked. Meanwhile, the threat from a series of North Korean ballistic missile tests, particularly the April 2 test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile equipped with a hypersonic warhead, has pressured the United States and its allies.
Japan, as one of the United States’ traditional allies, intends to take advantage of this chaos as a chance to showcase its “bridging role” in terms of conflict mediation. Kishida may hope to reinforce regional peace and stability, similar to South Korea’s efforts under former President Moon Jae-in.
The Diplomat
You can read more at the link, but North Korea has repeatedly said no to any summit with Japan that includes the abduction issue or missile tests. Those two issues are really the only thing the Japanese care to discuss with North Korea thus why there will be no summit.
It appears the Japanese government is seeing the economic benefits the ROK is receiving from their growing defense industry and wants to get their own piece of this growing market:
Japan’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it’s developing with Britain and Italy to other countries, in the latest move away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project and part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to countries other than the partners.
Stars and Stripes
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see if Japan and the U.S. militaries created a combined forces command similar to what USFK currently operates with the ROK military with:
Japanese troops from 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment secure a space for a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey to land during a combined exercise in Japan on March 15, 2022. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will reveal a plan to restructure the U.S. military command in Japan next month in light of concerns over China, The Financial Times reported Sunday. The aim is to boost military planning and drills involving the allies, according to the newspaper, which did not reveal its sources.
The two leaders will announce the plan during a meeting April 10 at the White House, the newspaper said. U.S. Forces Japan, headquartered at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, referred queries Monday to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. A spokesman for the office, John Supple, by email to Stars and Stripes declined to comment on the newspaper’s report.
Stars and Stripes
You can read more at the link.
The next time I am in Tokyo I have to check this place out:
Travel enthusiasts living in Japan can “visit” another country at First Airlines, a restaurant that uses virtual reality technology to transport customers to a variety of destinations. First Airlines, on the eighth floor of Parkheim West in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district, re-creates the experience of an international flight right down to walking the streets of a foreign city. The restaurant foyer simulates the waiting area at an airport gate, complete with a flight information display and a departure counter.
A person dressed as a gate agent greets guests and hands them a boarding pass and a make-believe Japanese passport stamped with the name of their destination. I booked a first-class “flight” to Rome. Other flights are available to Germany, Spain, New Zealand, Finland, France, Ukraine, Hawaii and New York City. The experience is two hours long with a three-course meal. Once customers are checked in, a “flight attendant” guides them to their seats; the restaurant is built to resemble an aircraft interior, with actual seats from Airbus 310 and 340 airliners.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
The Joong Ang Ilbo has an article that takes an indepth look at the UNC’s rear bases in Japan and what their functions are:
The recent visit to the United Nations Command (UNC) rear base in Japan represents a continuation of the Korea Peace Foundation’s ongoing quest for peace in Northeast Asia since its establishment in 2015.
Joong Ang Ilbo
Established in 1950 in the aftermath of the 1950-1953 Korean War, the UNC has been instrumental in preventing further conflict and upholding peace on the peninsula by maintaining the armistice and deterring North Korean aggression.
The UNC extended its presence to Japan to uphold these objectives.
The Peace Odyssey’s trip marked the first time the UNC granted foreign civilians access to its rear bases in Japan since the Covid-19 pandemic.
There are seven UNC rear bases in Japan. The Peace Odyssey visited two — the Yokosuka Naval Base and the Yokota Air Base.
While the UNC has made most base facilities accessible, a few remain off-limits. Amid the rapidly evolving international landscape characterized by increased cooperation between North Korea, China, and Russia, the UNC sought to provide accurate information about its role.
You can read the rest at the link, but as the article mentions the UNC rear bases in Japan serves a lot like what Kuwait has served for operations in the Middle East. Japan’s bases would be a critical logistics hub for bringing in material and troops to support any contingency on the Korean peninsula.
