[Citizen College Season 3] History conflict between Korea and Japan, how should we resolve it?

On October 11, 2019, the fourth lecture of the Citizens College Season 3 “Citizens and the World: Peace on the Korean Peninsula and International Politics” was given at Korea University’s Political Science & Economics Bldg.101. The fourth lecture was given by a professor at the Institute for Peace and Democracy at Korea University.

Titled “Korea-Japan historical conflicts, how should we resolve them?” the lecture looked at the public opinion of both Korea and Japan through poll data and looked at the reasons for the recent sharp deterioration in Korea-Japan relations. And it was time to think about the solution by referring to the examples of France and Germany.

Prior to the Korea-Japan trade conflict in 2019, Korea and Japan had a generally favorable atmosphere through active cultural exchanges, and they had been active in economic exchanges while freely moving in and out of each other. However, relations between the two countries have been frozen again after excluding Korea from Japan’s preferential export review countries. If you look at the poll data, not only has Koreans become more hostile toward Japan, but more than half of Japanese people have a bad impression of Korea. The Korea-Japan conflict began with the Japanese colonial rule. In addition, the speaker introduced the San Francisco Convention, a 1951 agreement between Korea and the U.S. as an international political origin of the Korea-Japan conflict. The history of the conflicts between Korea and Japan, Dokdo issue and (Japanese military sexual slavery reparations problem) problem. The two issues are deeply divided between Korea and Japan, and the conflict between the two countries is escalating.

France and Germany have made many efforts to resolve the historical conflict. The two countries have set up a joint TV channel Arté and published a joint history textbook. Just as France and Germany are trying to narrow the gap between their perceptions for reconciliation, Korea and Japan should also try to have “trust” between the two countries to paint the future together.