Kim Dae-jung and Japan

Two powerful Asia nations, with increasing global reach and influence, Japan and South Korea, are engaged in acrimonious conflict. The two nations have a bitter, difficult history.

Japan’s long-term occupation of Korea in the 20th century, which continued until 1945, included forced prostitution of Korean women and more general exploitation of the population. Totalitarianism has now faded, but legacies and painful memories continue.

Japan’s trade barrier took effect near the end of August, generating strong criticism and complaints. Politicians in both countries have exacerbated the situation with provocative, incendiary statements.

The two economies are world leaders in scale, production and overall effectiveness, but are notable for remaining surprisingly separate from another. This directly reflects a difficult history.

Just 7.5 percent of South Korea’s total trade is with Japan, and Japan’s total with South Korea is even smaller: 5.8 percent.

Analyst David Fickling of Bloomberg provides impressive, insightful ongoing columns on this subject. His work further confirms Bloomberg’s standing as an impressive, professional platform of economic information and analysis in the increasingly superficial, sensational media of our time.

In the midst of this conflict, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has made a dramatic, welcome declaration urging a return to cooperation. In mid-August, he took the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the death of South Korea’s great leader Kim Dae-jung to underscore the importance of the 1998 Joint Declaration between Japan and South Korea, and the fundamental need for partnership.

Kim’s effectiveness in opposing South Korea’s previous harsh dictatorship marked him as a special target, and he survived at least five attempts on his life.

One of the most dramatic incidents occurred in 1973, when South Korean government agents kidnapped him from a Tokyo hotel and took him to a ship, where they planned to kill him at sea.

Donald Gregg, the highly experienced U.S. Central Intelligence Agency station chief in South Korea, acted decisively. After a U.S. helicopter flew low over the ship, and Gregg intervened personally and skillfully, the kidnappers reluctantly released Kim.

Kim’s courage and commitment to representative government were rewarded when this opposition leader was elected president of the Republic of Korea in 1997. Without hesitation, he moved to begin detente with the North Korea totalitarian regime. This culminated in a dramatic summit in 2000 with the leader of North Korea, initiating continuing contacts with the Pyongyang regime.

Very appropriately, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for these efforts.