Masatoshi Muto, a former diplomat, says that making concessions to South Korea is a mistake and that South Korea needs a firm response.
2021-07-19
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Japan-Korea diplomacy has continued to make concessions
Masatoshi Muto on his dealings with South Korea during his time as a diplomat. He says that he made a mistake by listening to everything and requesting as much as possible.
Politics of creating virtual enemy countries
When asked about the anti-Japanese movement taking place in South Korea, Taro Aso, during his time as Prime Minister, asked, ``Does that have something to do with it?'' Japanese people don't care. As a result, the term ``virtual enemy country'' became popular. The view was that South Korea was conducting an anti-Japanese movement due to domestic circumstances.
There is currently a ceasefire in the Korean War
There is no doubt that South Korea's current enemy is primarily North Korea. The Korean War is not over yet, and there is currently a ceasefire. When we see public opinion in South Korea calling Japan an enemy country while facing each other across the ３８th parallel, we can't help but wonder to what extent South Korea is escaping reality.
Escaping reality takes aim at Japan, which doesn't say anything
When considered within the same framework, China is on the side of South Korea's enemy in the Korean War frame. Until now, the South Korean government has not been able to resolve security issues, and has abandoned its military and continued to focus on Japan, which has not fought back, because if it expressed hostility toward North Korea, China, or the United States, it would immediately take retaliatory measures. It's here. This is to gain the public's attention by saying something powerful. In doing so, it is easy to use stories from the past annexation era. Japan understands this environment and has tacitly tolerated South Korea's anti-Japanese movements.
Anti-Japanese is a tool to escape reality
What we need to clarify is that all of these environments are always real problems for South Korea. It seems that as long as Koreans remain anti-Japanese, they can temporarily feel as if their problems are gone. Even now, when the anti-Japan flag goes up, I forget everything due to a spinal reflex.
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South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin strives to resolve the forced labor and comfort women issue - What does the Korean economy, where the won continues to be weak, demand from Japan?
South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is extremely knowledgeable
South Korea is keen on repairing Japan-Korea relations
Korea's diplomatic techniques that you can't let your guard down
True feelings about getting close to Japan
Excited about swapping
To what extent will the Japan-Korea issue be resolved
Clarify what relationship improvement means
Special treatment is over
South Korean Foreign Minister Park, who is visiting Japan, emphasized that regarding the issue of labor recruitment lawsuits, ``We are making efforts within South Korea to find a desirable solution before cashing out,'' and added, ``The Japanese side also responded with a sincere response.'' I would appreciate it if you could give me that."
Mr. Nukaga, who met with him after the meeting, told reporters that he "intended to respect" the 2015 comfort women agreement that confirmed the "final and irreversible resolution" of the comfort women issue. I made it.
The current Yun Seok-Yue administration appears to be eager to repair relations with Japan. Before he took office as president, he sent a delegation of members of Congress to express his sincerity, and after taking office, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has shown an attitude of fully accepting the intentions of the Japanese side. But don't let your guard down.
The South Korean government's approach so far has been to extract some kind of concession from Japan, take it as a diplomatic credit, and then try to make a temporary move, and the pattern is to come back to it again and again.
Japan should negotiate without losing its stance that there is nothing Japan can do. In reality, the issue of post-war compensation has already been resolved in all agreements between Japan and South Korea.
The Korean won continues to be at a low price with no signs of rising. Due to the impact of interest rate hikes and the Bank of Korea trying to recover the won spent during the coronavirus pandemic, corporate investment will slow down. Since the won is not depreciating as sharply as before, it seems that the price is not falling off a cliff and is managing to cope even with the price dropping to around 1,300 won.
The US Federal Reserve has also begun withdrawing dollars from the market and raising interest rates. The Korean government wants to carry out another swap and looks at the American expression, but its expression remains firm. That's why it's Japan. I would like to somehow conclude a swap with the key currency to provide peace of mind.
Although South Korea has experienced economic growth, its industrial structure is a chaebol economy that generates profits through processing trade through bulk purchases and bulk sales, so domestic demand never grows, and it is greatly affected by exchange rate fluctuations. The national debt is increasing, household debt has exceeded GDP, and land prices in Seoul continue to soar, making it difficult to see when they will rebound. There is nothing wrong with the fact that Won is vulnerable.
The Japan-Korea issue is not just about the forced labor issue or the comfort women issue. In addition to the Takeshima issue, South Korea has broken all of the agreements that Japan and South Korea have concluded to date. The Japan-Korea joint declaration was left blank. The issue of excluding countries from the White List stems from concerns about the transfer of funds to North Korea and third countries.
Just because the issue of forced labor, which is about to be turned into cash, and the issue of comfort women, where statues of comfort women are being erected all over the world, are recent issues, it is normalization because these two issues have been resolved. Would you? In the first place, when South Korea refers to normalization, it means that they want to go back to the days when they were given special treatment.
Why did South Korea become a white country? Why did Japan do swaps during two economic collapses? This is only because Korea was given special treatment. It should be made clear that there will never again be a time when relations are treated as special even though they have been normalized.
Some countries are saddened by the sad news about former Prime Minister Abe, while others are happy - as expected, South Korea was the only democratic country to be happy.
Condolences received from various countries
South Korea welcomes people while twisting logic
Results opposite to Korea's expectations
Is your country's character different from that country?
Improving relations seems far off
In response to the sad news about former Prime Minister Abe, condolences have been pouring in from heads of state around the world, with many comments from democratic countries in particular saying that the world has lost a great leader. Mr. Trump, who was a close friend of Mr. Trump, immediately sent an extraordinary message of regret. However, there are countries that are completely different even if they are democracies. As you can imagine, it's South Korea.
Some South Korean articles say that with the death of former Prime Minister Abe, Japan's right-wing forces have lost their unifying force, and that members of parliament seeking to improve Japan-Korea relations have gained relative strength, leading to Prime Minister Kishida becoming a This means that they will be able to exercise their options. What on earth does this mean? It seems like they want to say that this is a good sign for improving relations with Japan.
There is no doubt that Mr. Abe was the spiritual pillar of Japan's right-wing movement. But the problem comes after that. After receiving the sad news about Abe, the members of the Diet who have close ties to him have regained their composure and strengthened their resolve to carry on Abe's will. This is clear from the statements made by these legislators and on Twitter. Rep. Rui Matsukawa and others have clearly expressed their feelings and made strong statements even at press conferences after securing victory.
In other words, with the death of former Prime Minister Abe, Mr. Abe's resolve has become firmer in his long-awaited efforts to revise the constitution and break away from the post-war regime in order to restore Japan's prestige. In other words, the current situation is completely opposite to that country's irritating predictions.
Japanese people don't have the emotions that most people in Korea usually expect. Even if people and towns are swept away by the tsunami, reconstruction begins the next day. Korea must have been very happy at this time as well. In response to this sad news about Mr. Abe, there is a completely distorted and eerie feeling that is visible as if people are welcoming Mr. Abe's death while calling for improved relations with Japan.
As long as we keep saying things like that, there will be no improvement in relations between Japan and South Korea. When will they be able to see events in a normal way? Will such a day ever come? The future is beyond imagination.
[Korea] A major failure in the nuclear phase - out policy highlighted by the rise in electricity prices - Passing the blame on to the people and giving them cold water.
South Korea will raise electricity prices
Korea Electric Power fell into a large deficit
Moon Jae-in's obvious mismanagement
Is the Fukushima prefecture product a commotion to distract people?
Countries with anti-Japanese spinal reflexes
The day you regain your composure
The South Korean government has decided to raise household electricity rates by 5 won per kWh starting in July. This year's additional measures are expected to raise prices by about 15%.
KEPCO posted an operating deficit of 5.86 trillion won last year, the largest in its history. The deficit in the first quarter of this year was already 7.8 trillion won, and unless the tariffs are raised, the annual deficit is expected to reach 20 trillion to 30 trillion won. Therefore, the idea is to transfer that deficit to the people as usage fees.
The Moon Jae-in government is being held responsible for its policy of ``phasing out nuclear power without increasing electricity rates.'' KEPCO, which had a surplus of several trillion won, became a loss-making company under the Moon government. During the five years of the Moon administration, KEPCO's debt increased by 41 trillion won. There are reports that if we phase out nuclear power, electricity costs will have to rise by 2.6% every year, and by 40% by 2030.
Korea Electric Power is South Korea's public power company. Japan's ban on importing seafood from Fukushima, the release of treated water into the ocean, and the controversy surrounding athletes' meals at the Tokyo Olympics are all efforts to cover up the failures of energy policy under the Moon Jae-in administration and distract the public. It looks like it was a festival.
They completely ignore scientific evidence, create sensationalism, and link it to anti-Japanese sentiment. When this happens, the Korean people lose their cool and become overheated. This is the result of anti-Japanese education, and is like an anti-Japanese switch that the South Korean government often uses.
The anti-Japanese mood seems to have eased somewhat with the arrival of the Yun Seok-Yeong administration, but will the public bear the burden of the Moon Jae-in administration's failures in energy policy, which will further dampen the anti-Japanese fervor? Regarding the causal relationship between cause and effect, in Korean society the problem shifts to Japan. Japan has nothing to do with the failure of energy policy. Even if people say things have calmed down, I feel like it's already too late.
The people's trial that began in the wake of the Itaewon accident - The horror of a country where all citizens think they are jurors
Is President Yoon responsible for the Itaewon accident?
A surprising public opinion poll
The police have administrative jurisdiction and are under the jurisdiction of the prefectural police
Is the president in charge of Halloween?
It appears that a candlelight demonstration was held in Itaewon, Seoul on Halloween in the name of commemorating the victims. South Korea is apparently the country of demonstrations, but organizers said ``50,000 people gathered.'' Police estimate the number of participants to be 9,000. The purpose seems to be to hold the current President Yoon's administration responsible for the Itaewon accident and demand his resignation.
A public opinion poll was conducted, and found that the government was responsible for the Itaewon disaster.73.1% said it was responsible, 23.3% said it was not responsible, and 53% said it was extremely responsible. Considering whether the decision should be based on public opinion polls in the first place, I wonder if South Korea's famous all-citizen jury trial system has started again. In the first place, it must be said that he is in a state of cessation of thinking, meaning that he does not have the composure to analyze the responsibility and causes of the problem.
Japan's police force is handled by the National Police Agency, which has administrative jurisdiction. The National Police Agency will be positioned as a special organization within the Public Safety Commission, which is an external bureau of the Cabinet. Rather than directing and supervising the National Police Agency on individual cases, the Public Safety Commission sets general policies and supervises whether they are being operated appropriately.
As it is an administrative organ, the main body of work lies with local governments, and prefectural police are responsible for accidents and incidents that occur under their jurisdiction. Hyogo Prefectural Police was held responsible for the Akashi fireworks display accident, and Nara Prefectural Police was held responsible for Abe's assassination.
They seem to be claiming that the president is responsible for the Itaewon accident, but that is not the case at all under Japanese law. What about Korean law? Normally, responsibility should be assumed by the person in charge, but does this mean that President Yoon should grasp the details of the security system and issue instructions regarding Halloween security? Or should we have decided by presidential order that this is how we should enjoy the Halloween festival?
President Yun Seok - Yeol was criticized for not demanding an apology from Japan during Korea Liberation Day! Countries demanding an apology on the day the war ended.
Enthusiasm to repair Japan-Korea relations
A country that expects grudge festival on the day of the end of the war
It is clear that it will change again if the government changes
Promises between Japan and South Korea that have been repeatedly broken
Background of countries that fail to keep their promises
It appears that President Yun Seok-Yeong's speech at Liberation Day is under attack. It is said that he only shouted for freedom 33 times in his speech on Liberation Day, but did not hear a single word demanding an apology on the 77th anniversary of Liberation Day.
In the first place, it can be said that it is abnormal that 77 years have passed and an apology is still being requested at a national ceremony.
Every country holds some type of event on Victory Day or the End of World War Day, but avoid using expressions that suggest that the country is still considered an enemy country. This is a matter of course if there are diplomatic relations, which is international common sense.
Will Israeli President Herzog give a speech on the anniversary of the end of the war, saying that Jews still hold a grudge against Germans? It can be said that this is a completely meaningless political action.
In any case, although President Yun Seok-Yeong's desire to improve Japan-Korea relations is highly commendable, even if we make some kind of promise with him, we have no idea what will happen once his term ends.
In Japan, it has been reported that the agreement between Japan and South Korea was broken during the era of former President Moon Jae-in, but diplomatic relations were restored in 1965, and the Japan-Korea Joint Declaration was issued in 1998, and concrete Japan-Korea exchanges were established. have started, but they are already in an invalid state. The Japan-Korea Joint Declaration collapsed within two years.
In other words, the fact remains that South Korea is not in a position to keep its promises. Therein lies the essential problem. The best-selling book Anti-Japanese Tribalism written by Korean professor Lee Yong-hoon describes anti-Japanese as shamanism that goes beyond logic. It is truly an anti-Japanese religion.
