Ties between Japan, South Korea fray
TOKYO — Leaders have turned their backs on each other. They have traded barbs. Military and business ties are fraying, and the media is up in arms.
Relations between Japan and South Korea, the most important U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific region, are unraveling fast.
And while the leaders of both countries share the blame, the Trump administration has taken its eye off the ball, experts say. This has allowed spats to grow that could undermine U.S. efforts to sustain a coalition of Asian democracies and contain China.
Japan ruled over South Korea from the beginning of the 20th century until the end of World War II, and Seoul and Tokyo’s complicated history has always loomed large in the background.
But the rancor that has soured relations lately is among the worst in generations.
“The relationship between South Korea and Japan is suffering a compound fracture unprecedented in the five decades since the two countries established diplomatic relations,” said Shin Kak-soo, a former South Korean ambassador to Japan.
He added, “The Trump administration did not pay attention to the alliance.”
The rift came after a South Korean Supreme Court decision in October ordering a Japanese steel producer to compensate Korean workers forced into manual labor during Japanese colonial rule, but the root of the crisis runs much deeper and its effects have reverberated in all directions since.
In November, South Korea shut down a foundation established to help care for the Korean women more commonly known as “comfort women” — forced into sexual slavery during World War II in Japanese military brothels. The foundation was funded by Japan as part of a 2015 deal intended to put the issue to rest.
Then Tokyo went public with accusations that a South Korean warship had locked its fire-control radar onto a Japanese patrol plane, a move seen as a precursor to actually firing.
Seoul denied the accusation and countered with the charge that the Japanese plane had been flying dangerously low.
Tokyo says the Supreme Court decision violates a 1965 deal establishing diplomatic relations, under which Japan gave South Korea much-needed economic aid as compensation for forced labor.