Tag: Japan

This article in The Diplomat really articulates why Japan and South Korea are having their current bitter trade dispute:

To understand why a free trade-dependent, rules-upholding country is apparently willing to undermine the rules of free trade with one of its most important trading partners, it may be useful to divide rules, norms, laws, treaties – the “stuff” of international order – between the content of what they regulate, e.g. trade, and the attributes that make them meaningful, e.g. mutual acceptance, reliability, and finality. In an ironic twist, Japan is using a particular subset of international rules, norms, laws, and treaties (specifically regulating trade) to fight for a common understanding that rules, norms, laws, and treaties (but especially those concerning historical issues) ought to be mutually accepted, reliable, and final once signed.

Even if the agreement reached in years or decades prior is not the preferred agreement of the current generation, there needs to be an acceptance of those agreements as constituted. Perhaps the only silver lining in all of this is that a liberal president rules in South Korea and a conservative prime minister leads Japan — “To forge an enduring deal,” Glosserman emphasizes, “this combination is what you need.” After having been burned twice – once after reaching an agreement with a dictatorship and once after reaching an agreement with a democratically-elected conservative administration – an agreement reached with a democratically-elected liberal administration may have greater weight in Japanese estimations of its future durability. But as Japan has abided by (would have abided by) these past agreements, Tokyo wants to see the initiative for another attempt come from South Korea.

Japan’s trade restriction on exports to South Korea is not Tokyo’s optimal policy, and it is not a long-term solution to Japan’s historical issues with South Korea. It is a desperate attempt by one country trying to get its valuable economic and security partner to commit to putting the relationship of today and the relationship of the future ahead of the issues of the past.

The Diplomat

You can read the rest at the link, but it is clear that the Japanese government’s patience has reached its limit on the ROK government backing out on signed deals that a new administration does not like.

With that said I don’t know how President Moon can back down now considering how strongly he has pushed anti-Japanese sentiment for domestic political purposes since he was elected. This leads me to believe this could drag on for quite some time.

If the Moon administration allows the auctioning of the assets of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in South Korea, I wonder what the Japanese response will be? Would they try and auction off the assets of a major Korean company like Hyundai in Japan in response? If so this dispute could get even uglier:

Plaintiffs who won a compensation suit against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for its wartime forced labor filed a formal request to a local court Tuesday to seize and liquidate the Japanese firm’s assets in Korea, after the company refused to abide by a November Supreme Court ruling in their favor.

The request came amid an escalating feud between the two countries following the court verdict and Japan’s alleged retaliatory move restricting exports of key materials to Korea. 

The action comes eight months after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, which sided with 87-year-old Yang Geum-deok and four other plaintiffs who were forced to work without pay at a Mitsubishi aircraft plant in Nagoya during World War II. The court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay between 100 million won ($85,000) and 150 million won to each victim in legal compensation. 

But the company refused to pay, and also ignored multiple requests to negotiate an agreement, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers. During this time, three plaintiffs passed away. 

“There is a limit to waiting,” civic groups that supported the five said in a press conference on behalf of the plaintiffs, Tuesday. “As we warned, we have asked the court to order the sale of Mitsubishi Heavy Industry’s assets in Korea.” 

The request was filed with Daejeon District Court, targeting the “liquidation of six patents and two trademark rights” which the company was granted in Korea, including its new MHI English logo. Earlier in March, they asked a court to allow them to “seize the intellectual properties,” a request that was accepted. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

#MoonJaeIn's Deobureo Minjoo Party (Democratic Party of #Korea) created a "Special Committee to Respond to #Japan's Economic Retaliation," then quickly renamed it "Special Committee to Respond to Japan's Economic Invasion." An invasion? Ruling party stoking anti-Japan sentiment. https://t.co/fWfdY8jByO

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) July 23, 2019

Here is the latest economic measure the Japanese are looking at taking against South Korea:

Japan’s plan to remove Korea from its “white list” of countries with preferential trade treatment will endanger the alliance between Korea, Japan and the United States and threaten regional security in Northeast Asia, the trade minister said Wednesday.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo said the Korean government has delivered its “written opinion” to Tokyo. This is the first time Korea has delivered a message this way to Japan over economic issues.

The document contains details on why Japan’s July 4 export restrictions on three materials for manufacturing semiconductors, and an additional move to remove Korea from its whitelist of 27 countries are unfair and groundless. 

“The groundless export curbs on three materials for semiconductors should be lifted immediately and the action to remove Korea from its whitelist should also be scrapped,” Sung said during a press conference at the Government Complex in Seoul.

“The attempt to remove Korea from its whitelist is an especially serious issue which sways the foundation of the cooperation between Korea, Japan and the U.S. on security in Northeast Asia, as well as dealing a heavy blow to the Korea-Japan economic partnership which has lasted over 60 years.” 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this is clearly tit-for-tat because earlier this week the ROK said they were considering ending the GSOMIA security pact with Japan. So Japan comes back with a threat to take South Korea off their white list.

This whole dispute could be ended if the Moon administration stops with its plan to forcibly seize the assets of Japanese companies within South Korea.

The Japanese government is looking for every opportunity now to stick it to the Moon administration:

Anchor: Amid Seoul and Tokyo’s ongoing trade spat over the Abe administration’s export curbs, tensions between the neighboring countries have been further exacerbated after Tokyo renewed its claim over South Korea’s Dokdo islets in the East Sea. South Korea dismissed Japan’s renewed territorial claim over the Dokdo islets, reiterating that the islets are Korean territory historically, geographically and by international law.

Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: As a Russian warplane violated South Korean airspace above the easternmost Dokdo islets Tuesday, Tokyo used the opportunity to renew its claim over the East Sea territory.

[Sound bite: Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga (Japanese)] 

“Regarding the airspace invasion by the Russian military aircraft yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Japanese Embassy in Russia, strongly objected the violation and at the same time urged efforts to prevent a recurrence. The government will solve the territorial issue, raise a peace treaty and continue to work persistently under this basic policy.”

Tokyo’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also said Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter jets in response.

Seoul, however, finds Tokyo’s response to be preposterous. South Korea’s presidential office refuted Japan’s claim on Wednesday, saying it should confine its concerns to its own air defense identification zone while South Korea responds to matters in its own airspace. The foreign and defense ministries in Seoul also issued statements.

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link, but it seems it would have been better for Japan to keep quiet on this. The Dokdo issue is one thing that 99% of Koreans seem to agree and Japan’s comments are just causing Koreans to rally around President Moon.

Once again when are so called patriotic Koreans going to pull a stunt like this at the Chinese embassy to protest their current economic retaliation against South Korea and historical wrong doing against the Korean people?:

Police detained six college students Monday after they staged a demonstration inside the Japanese Consulate in the southeastern port city of Busan in protest of Japan’s trade restrictions on Korea. 

The students were in the consulate’s library, then stormed out to its yard at around 2:30 p.m. They shouted slogans and held banners that read, “We denounce Japan’s re-invasion,” “We condemn economic provocations,” and “Abe must apologize.” 

They were taken to a police station and are being probed on the account of trespassing the premises of a diplomatic mission, the police said. 

The students, who claim to belong to an anti-Japan group based in Busan, individually entered the consulate building earlier through due procedures, according to the police.

At the time of their protest, a coalition of 30 civic groups in the city was holding a joint news conference in front of the consulate’s rear gate to condemn Japan for its export restrictions against South Korea and call for a boycott of Japanese products.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but when are these protesters going to demand the Emperor President Xi of China apologize?

Anyway these activists pull these stunts against Japan because they know they can get away with it. If they tried this against the Chinese embassy they know there would likely be real repercussions. Remember the Chinese embassy once sponsored the assault of Korean citizens in Seoul and got away with it.  

Could you imagine what would happen if the Japanese embassy organized a mob to assault Koreans in Seoul?

Here is the testy exchange between the ROK and Japanese foreign ministries:

Kono urged Seoul to immediately take action to stop the court process, under which the plaintiffs of the lawsuit are preparing to seize assets of the Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industry.

Nam defended his government and mentioned Seoul’s proposal of creating a joint fund as a way to settle the dispute. Kono raised his voice, saying Tokyo had already rejected the idea. He also criticized the ambassador for being “rude” to suggest it again.

Japan says all compensation issues had been settled under the 1965 bilateral agreement and that the South Korean government’s lack of intervention to stop the court process is a breach of the international treaty.

Tokyo is considering taking the issue to the International Court of Justice, although some officials say South Korea is expected to refuse going to court. Tokyo may seek damages from South Korea in case assets of Japanese companies are seized, Japanese media reported.

Responding to Kono’s remark, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Japan still hasn’t done enough to make amends for the sufferings South Koreans had gone through during the colonial past and that it should discuss ways to find solutions acceptable to both sides.

“To genuinely resolve the problem, Japan must look straight into the unfortunate past and make efforts to heal the pain and scars of the victims,” the ministry said. “We hope that the Japanese government would withdraw its unilateral pressure including the export restrictions of retaliatory character and return to the stage of diplomatic resolutions.”

Associated Press

All I am wondering is, when is the ROK government going to say that China hasn’t made amends for the suffering of the Korean people during the Korean War that killed far more Koreans than the Japanese colonial occupation and nearly destroyed the entire country?

Also when is the ROK government going to demand that China withdraw their retaliatory economic measures against South Korea over the THAAD deployment? The hypocrisy is why I have a hard time taking Moon administration demands on this issue seriously.

The tensions between South Korea and Japan could end up having security impacts as well if the Blue House seeks to end the GSOMIA which authorizes the two countries to share intelligence information:

 A rancorous diplomatic spat between South Korea and Japan is casting doubts over the fate of a military intelligence-sharing pact seen as a rare symbol of their trust and a key platform for trilateral security cooperation involving the United States.

The tussle that started from a simmering row over Japan’s wartime forced labor has been escalating into the economic domain with Tokyo’s July 4 measure to tighten restrictions on exports to South Korea of key industrial materials. 

It is now feared to be spilling over into the security realm, apparently putting Washington on edge as the U.S. is keen on firming up cooperation with its two Asian allies to promote regional stability amid North Korea’s lingering threats and China’s growing assertiveness.

The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) between Seoul and Tokyo is automatically renewed every year unless either side expresses its intent to rescind it 90 days ahead of the end of its extendable one-year period.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but clearly the Moon administration is willing to bargain with the GSOMIA because they feel the current peace process with North Korea means intelligence from Japan is not needed.

However, this whole dispute could be ended today if the Moon administration does not move forward with seizing the assets of Japanese companies in South Korea. However, the Moon administration miscalculated in their Japan bashing and have gone so far now it is hard politically for the Moon administration to change course.

I would not be surprised if this man had a history of mental problems:

A 78-year-old South Korean man died hours after setting himself ablaze near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Friday, police said, at a time of worsening tensions between Seoul and Tokyo.

The man, surnamed Kim, ignited a fire inside his car parked in front of the building where the Embassy is located. The man died later Friday while being treated at a Seoul hospital, police said.

Police said Kim had phoned an acquaintance earlier to say he planned to self-immolate to express his antipathy toward Japan.

Kim’s family told investigators that his father-in-law had been conscripted as a forced laborer when the Korean Peninsula was under Japan’s colonial rule from 1910-45, according to a police statement.

Associated Press

Of course the news media did not bother to fact check if he was in fact a force laborer. Simple math puts this highly in doubt. The article says he is 78 years old, which means that in 1945 when most of the forced labor happened he would have been 4 years old.