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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 3-Aug-2019
3-Aug-19 World View -- Japan-Korea relations deteriorate quickly after surprise trade standoff

Web Log - August, 2019

3-Aug-19 World View -- Japan-Korea relations deteriorate quickly after surprise trade standoff

South Korea's Moon: 'We won't be defeated again' by Japan

by John J. Xenakis

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Japan-Korea relations deteriorate quickly after surprise trade standoff
South Korea's Moon: 'We won't be defeated again' by Japan
History of Korea, Japan and China

Japan-Korea relations deteriorate quickly after surprise trade standoff

South Korea's president Moon Jae-in and Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe

South Korea's president Moon Jae-in and Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe

The surprise trade dispute between South Korea and Japan that we reported three weeks ago has been become increasingly vitriolic. ( "17-Jul-19 World View -- Japan - South Korea trade dispute worsens")

The Koreans have been demanding reparations for Japanese atrocities committed during World War II. Japan and South Korea agreed to reparations in a treaty in 1965 that the Japanese claim settled the matter. The Koreans demanded more reparations, and in 2015 Japan and Korea concluded a bilateral agreement which was intended at the time as the “final and irreversible” resolution.

However, now a Korean court has ruled that the Japanese must pay additional reparations to so-called "comfort girls." The Japanese are seeing this as harassment, and last month they imposed trade sanctions on chemicals needed for manufacturing chips. The sanctions particularly target Korean firms Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and LG Electronics.

Two days ago, Japan took the further step of dropping South Korea from a so-called "white list" of favored export destinations, and South Korea retaliated in kind.

South Korea's Moon: 'We won't be defeated again' by Japan

Japan's sanctions have hit South Korea hard, and have generated a vitriolic backlash in South Korea against Japan.

Millions of South Koreans are boycotting Japanese goods over the dispute, and several protests have been held throughout the country. A South Korean man set himself on fire in the center of Seoul. Supermarket shelves are being emptied of Japanese goods. Defiant demonstrators have posted films of themselves destroying their own Japanese cars.

Speaking to a cabinet meeting, President Moon Jae-in vowed angrily that "we will never let Japan" defeat Korea again:

"I clearly warn that the Japanese government will be solely responsible for what happens going forward. We will never be defeated by Japan again. The Republic of Korea is not the same Republic of Korea of the past. We will never let Japan, who is the assailant, speak louder and become offensive towards us. We will sternly take measures corresponding to Japan’s unjustified economic retaliations. We have measures to use to counter their offenses."

An editorial in the Korea Times relates the current situation to Korea's historical relation to Japan, Russia and China:

"The issue of getting Japanese companies belatedly to pay compensation for Korean forced laborers during World War II the starting point of the Korea-Japan standoff only scratches the surface of the much bigger issue underneath. ...
His shadows are manifest in two ways: Koreans resent Japan and its nationalist leader Shinzo Abe for their refusal to inherit the sins of their ancestors and the obligation to pay for these sins but Koreans worry about their wellbeing, fearing that the fate that befell them at the turn of the 20th century will revisit them. ...
Back then, the big powers scrambled to have Korea as a colonial trophy prize.
In that scramble, imperial Japan cut deals with the U.S., fought off the Qing Dynasty and the Russian Empire, and absorbed Korea, then the Joseon Kingdom, before ruling it as ruthless colonial master for the following 36 years.
The hapless King Gojeong, the last monarch of the ailing Joseon, was reduced to a pawn being pulled by his father and Queen Min or Empress Myeongseong. The trio's respective and conflicting attempts to curry favor with the big powers to save themselves backfired and collapsed.
The ambience created by the mixture of U.S. President Donald Trump, China's president for life Xi Jinping, Japan's Abe, remotely Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and, last but not least, North Korea's young autocrat Kim Jong-un, has for no good reasons spooked present-day Korea in the same manner Joseon must have felt some 100 years ago."

The Japanese and Korean people have hated each other for many centuries. In the modern era, after the Korean war, the two countries have remained at a frozen peace because they're both American allies. But that peace is thawing, now that the survivors of WW II have all but disappeared.

History of Korea, Japan and China

Historically, Korea has been a Chinese vassal state, forced to pay tribute to China. So the Koreans hate both the Japanese and the Chinese. How this will all unfold once war breaks out will not be pleasant. Those missiles and nuclear weapons that the North Koreans are developing will be targeting Japan, South Korea and America. South and North Korea will be in a full scale ground war. Japan and America will be striking back at both North Korea and China.

Those interested in understanding the history of China, Japan, Korea and Russia should read my book, "World View: War Between China and Japan: Why America Must Be Prepared" (Generational Theory Book Series, Book 2) Paperback: 331 pages, with over 200 source references, $13.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732738637/

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(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the Generational Dynamics World View News thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (3-Aug-2019) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 3-Aug-2019 3-Aug-19 World View -- Japan-Korea relations deteriorate quickly after surprise trade standoff

Japan-Korea relations deteriorate quickly after surprise trade standoff

South Korea's Moon: 'We won't be defeated again' by Japan

History of Korea, Japan and China

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 3-Aug-2019
3-Aug-19 World View -- Japan-Korea relations deteriorate quickly after surprise trade standoff