Japan-ROK "shuttle diplomacy" is difficult to resolve the deep-seated contradictions between the two countries, and the people do not buy it

□ Wang Gang, reporter of this newspaper in South Korea

From May 5 to 7, local time, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited South Korea. The visit comes only 8 days after South Korean President Yoon Seok-yue's visit to Japan. However, Kishida's visit to South Korea, which was highly valued by the Yoon Seok-yue government, sparked many "anti-Japanese protest rallies" in South Korea. Analysts pointed out that although the "shuttle diplomacy" of the exchange of visits between ROK and Japan has been restarted after 52 years, many factors such as historical issues, territorial disputes, and economic and trade frictions have crossed the two countries, the deep-seated contradictions between Japan and South Korea are still difficult to resolve, and the real recovery of bilateral relations still faces many challenges.

The people didn't buy it

Recently, the Yoon Seok-hyeol government has been constantly compromising with Japan, and regards the resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" between South Korea and Japan as a major "achievement". Yoon said that the exchange of visits between the leaders of the two countries came less than two months later, "which reflects the momentum of accelerated development of South Korea-Japan relations." He concluded that there is a "significant trend of improvement in the overall improvement" in South Korea-Japan relations, and said that "we [the relationship between the two countries] need to go to a higher level" and "I have a sense of responsibility for this." Yin Xiyue also announced that he will visit Hiroshima, Japan on the 19th at the invitation of Fumio Kishida to participate in the Group of Seven (G7) summit. Yoon Seok-hyeol and Fumio Kishida also agreed to go to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park together to visit the memorial monument to the victims of the Korean atomic bombing.

Although Yoon Seok-hyeol himself and even South Korea's ruling National Power Party "feel good" about South Korea-Japan relations, the South Korean people do not buy it.

In response to Kishida's visit to South Korea, protests and demonstrations took place in many places in Seoul, and the South Korean police raised the level of security to the highest level to prevent "what if" happened. South Korean university student groups held a demonstration in front of the president's office at 7 a.m. on the 11th, pointing out that when South Korea and Japan reached the so-called "comfort women" compensation agreement in 2015, Kishida Fumio was Japan's foreign minister, and Kishida has not seriously reflected on Japan's war crimes; South Korean citizens' group "People for Peace and Reunification" demonstrated in front of the president's office at 7 o'clock on the 12th, calling the ROK-Japan summit "a humiliating diplomacy that exonerates the Kishida administration, which has consistently distorted history and denied responsibility."

In addition, many Korean social groups, such as "Controversy and Memory Link" and "Institute of Ethnic Issues," held protests and demonstrations in front of the president's office at 7 pm on the 14th, shouting slogans such as "the Japanese Government must apologize for illegal colonial rule" and "Demand the abolition of the ROK-Japan Military Information Protection Agreement", demanding that the Japanese Government apologize and compensate for the forced conscription of labor during World War II, and at the same time demand that the Japanese Government withdraw its decision to discharge Fukushima's nuclear sewage into the sea.

Japan's sincerity is limited

South Koreans have been protesting for days, in stark contrast to Yoon's assessment of South Korea-Japan relations.

Yoon said that compared with his first year in office, "there is no field that has changed more than the diplomatic and security fields," and that "the biggest result of the Korea-Japan summit is the complete normalization of South Korea-Japan relations, which fell into the worst situation under the previous administration." However, is this really the case?

More than half of the people believe that there are many contradictions between South Korea and Japan, and condemn the Japanese government for its insincere attitude and lack of sincerity in apology on many issues that straddle South Korea and Japan, such as historical issues.

Yonhap News Agency and its TV stations commissioned Metri X, a polling agency, to conduct a survey on the direction of Korea-Japan relations among 6,7 South Koreans on the 1000th and 9th of this month. According to the survey results released on the 55th, up to 4.<>% of respondents believe that in order to improve relations between the two countries, Japan should first make a sincere apology for the problems left over from history.

South Korea's largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, also fiercely criticized the results of the ROK-Japan summit talks and Kishida's visit to South Korea. Yoon Ho-joong, a member of the party's National Assembly, said that the South Korea-Japan summit talks were "flashy", with a good appearance but an empty inside. Lee Won-wook, a member of the party's Diet, said that Kishida Fumio did not show a forward-looking attitude on historical issues this time, which is why there were voices in China condemning the Yoon Seok-yue government's "humiliating diplomacy" with Japan.

Many questions remain to be answered

Historical issues such as "forced labor compensation in World War II" have long been key factors affecting Korea-Japan relations. On March 3, the South Korean government, ignoring domestic public opinion, announced that the South Korean side would raise funds to pay compensation on behalf of the defendant Japanese company. This decision immediately triggered strong dissatisfaction in South Korean public opinion.

What makes the South Korean people even more disappointed and angry is that although Kishida Fumio announced before his visit to South Korea that he would have "frank exchanges" with Yoon Seok-yue, judging from the results, Kishida has not yet made substantial concessions on historical issues.

South Korea's "JoongAng Ilbo" commented that in order to further improve South Korea-Japan relations, Japan needs to take sincere measures.

In detail, in addition to the outstanding historical issues such as "forced labor compensation in World War II" and "comfort women", there are also practical problems between South Korea and Japan, such as territorial disputes and economic and trade frictions.

In addition, the issue of nuclear sewage discharge has also become one of the differences between South Korea and Japan. Yang Ki-ho, a professor of Japanese studies at Seungkung Hui University in Korea, said with concern that although Japan had decided to accept a visit from a South Korean delegation, its plans to discharge Fukushima nuclear sewage into the sea after July had not changed. He feared that the South Korean delegation could be used by the Japanese government to evade condemnation and opposition.

Many contradictions are like "pressing the gourd to float the scoop", which has always straddled the two countries. It is precisely for this reason that the foundation for the improvement of relations between South Korea and Japan is relatively weak, and if the above problems are not resolved, it will be difficult for the two countries to completely achieve "handshake and peace". It is no wonder that many Korean media such as "Han Minzu News" have pointed out in their comments that "shuttle diplomacy" can hardly hide the differences between South Korea and Japan, and South Korea-Japan relations, which cannot correctly understand history, have no future. (Source: Rule of Law Daily)