Korea-Japan Relations under Deep Stress

Abstract

As is well known, Abe Shinzo and Park Geun-hye have not held a formal summit in the roughly one year since they took office and have no plans to do so. It has long been the case that new Korean as well as Japanese leaders call on each other upon assuming power. While many have pointed to reasons why this has not happened, the deeper meaning of this change in the bilateral relationship is worth further analysis. By offering some ideas about what to make of this transformation in bilateral relations with wide ramifications for security in Northeast Asia, I want to stimulate an exchange of views over the first part of 2014. My argument is that a crossroads has been reached, when issues that long festered cannot be avoided and choices that previously were seen as unnecessary or best left to the distant future are now a matter of immediacy.