South Korea Japan Dispute : New Chapter with Old Links

                                            




 South Korea on 22nd Aug 2019 scrapped an agreement to share military intelligence with Japan after Japan removed South Korea's favoured trade partners status and
restricted exports of materials critical to South Korea’s high-tech industry, citing national security concern . This is New Chapter added with old links in South Korea Japan Dispute . 

 So, Is this South Korea Japan Dispute few months or an year old  ?

 

 

No, The South Korea Japan Dispute is not a month or an year old but few century old .

The latest tension might stem from a South Korean court ruling last year that ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to Koreans over forced wartime labour, Where Japaneses firms refused to comply with the court order and have had their assets seized in South Korea.
But the South Korean Court ruling just triggered the Generation Old Wound which began much before even World War 2. 

SO What Is the History Of South Korea Japan Dispute ?

 

 

 

 

 

Korea japan Relation During Ancient Time

 

 

Relations between Korea and Japan go back at least two millennia. After the 3rd century BC, people from the Three Kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) and Gaya in the Korean Peninsula, started to move southwards into the Kyushu region of Japan. Knowledge of mainland Asia was transmitted via Korea to Japan. According to the description of the Book of Wei, Yamatai-Koku kingdom in Japan and Four Commanderies of Han had diplomatic exchanges around the 3rd century. There are indications of cross-border political influence, but with varying accounts as to in which direction the political influence flowed. Buddhism was introduced to Japan from this Korean monarchy.

 Korea Japan Relation During 16th Century 

 

 

During the Muromachi and Sengoku periods in Japan, pirates sailing from Kyushu attacked ships along the coasts of Korea and China and were feared as Japanese pirates.

In 1592 and 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had unified Japan, ordered daimyōs (feudal lords) all over the nation to the conquest of Ming Dynasty China by way of Korea, after the latter's refusal to allow Japanese forces to march through, while King Seonjo alerting its Chinese counterpart regarding the Japanese threat. Japan completed the occupation of the Korean peninsula in three months.This was the First Main Chapter in the long South Korea Japan Dispute .

After occupation of Korea, Japan then initiated a series of policies called Sakoku to isolate itself from international world. It forbade Japanese to go abroad in ships, and initiated the death penalty for Japanese returning to Japan from abroad. This ended Japanese piracy definitively. During the Japanese invasion, much of Korea's cultural heritage was destroyed and looted by the invading Japanese armies. Among the atrocities of the Japanese soldiers was the practice of cutting off noses and ears of slain enemy soldiers, which evolved into cutting off those of the living and the civilians in order to fulfill the "kill quota" assigned to the troops. Hence the origin of the Korean saying to misbehaving children, "Ear and nose cutting devils are coming!".After the wars, Korean missions were dispatched 11 times to the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan between 1607 and 1811.

At the end of the 16th century, the Bunroku-Keicho War broke off the relationship between Korea and Japan. However, the Tokugawa shogunate started trading again with Korea by concluding the Treaty of Giyu with the Sō clan of Tsushima Island in 1609, establishing a relationship of near equality through mutual visits of Korean messengers.

 

Korea Japan relation During 19th century  (Colonial Era and World War)

 

During 19th Century With the erosion of Qing dynasty influence , Korea began to resist Chinese influence, but also Western and Japanese control. Japan was rapidly modernizing in the second half of the 19th century and showing a keen interest in Korea, especially as it was the closest potential point of expansion directly on the Asian mainland .Joseon Korea came under the Japanese sphere of influence in the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 and a complex coalition of the Meiji government, military, and business officials began a process of Korea's political and economic integration into Japan. The Korean Empire became a protectorate of Japan in 1905 in the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 and the country was indirectly ruled by the Japanese through the Resident-General of Korea. Japan formally annexed the Korean Empire in 1910 . This is Second time in the History Japan completely occupied Korea .

During the colonial period, more than 100,000 Koreans served in the Imperial Japanese Army. The service of these Korean men was forced upon them,but it is without a doubt that Koreans fought alongside Japanese as allies to battle against the forces of the Allies of World War II also uring the conflict, tens of thousands of women - some say as many as 200,000 - from across Asia were sent to military brothels to service Japanese soldiers. Many of the victims, known as "comfort women", were Korean.

At the end of World War II, Korea regained its independence after 35 years of imperialist Japanese rule. Per the Yalta Conference agreements, Soviet forces accepted surrender of Japanese forces in northern Korea above the 38th parallel, and U.S. forces south of that line. Korea was then divided into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) spheres. South Korea refused diplomatic and trade relations with Japan, using tensions with Japan to rally support for the South Korean government. The early South Korean government derived its legitimacy from its opposition to Japan and North Korea  portraying South Korea as under threat from the North (North Korea) and South (Japan) .

South Korea Japan Relation After World War 2 

 

The diplomatic relationship between Japan and South Korea was established in 1965, when the Treaty on Basic Relations was signed; japan recognized the Republic of Korea (the official name of South Korea) as the only legitimate government on the Korean Peninsula. As such, North Korea does not have official diplomatic ties with Japan.It happens 20 years after Japan's defeat and the end of its occupation of the peninsula, South Korean President Park Chung-hee agreed to normalise relations with the country in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and grants.Japan also insists this "economic co-operation" pledge settled any claims for wartime reparations or compensation. 

But the South Korea Japan Dispute didn't end here, Because the 1965 treaty was deeply unpopular among South Koreans. The democratic reforms of South Korea in the 1990s allowed demonstrators to become far more vocal.
Since 1992, activists for the comfort women have rallied every Wednesday outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul, demanding an apology and reparations for the few dozen Korean comfort women left alive.

In 2015 a Deal was signed between South Korea and Japan. Japan apologised and promised to pay 1bn yen ($9.5m, £7.9m) - the amount South Korea asked for the victims (Comfort women ).
That time Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said  "Japan and South Korea are now entering into a new era ,We should not drag this problem into the next generation." In the Hope to finally End the South Korea Japan Dispute . But activists said they were not consulted, and rejected the deal. In 2017 The new elected President of South Korea Moon Jae-in , suggested the deal should  be altered.

South Korea Japan Dispute Now 

 

 

After Rejection of 2017 deal and South Korean court ruling in 2018 that ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to Koreans over forced wartime labour, Both South Korea and Japan are in No mood for compromise .The historic South Korea Japan dispute rumbles on, with neither country looking likely to bend.They keep adding New chapters with old Links . 

  

The South Korea Japan Dispute  is “a lose-lose proposition”not only for Both the countries But also for the Whole World  as it comes amid an ongoing global trade war that the U.S. and its trading partners are embroiled in.South Korea and Japan are large exporters of products such as gadgets ,smartphone ,chips etc. An escalated trade fight between the two could be bad news for the global technology industry and consumers may end up having to pay more for products.

As USA and China Both trying hard to meditate due to there own reasons But It Look like this will only get worse .Both Countries already removed favoured  trade partner status of one another.

Now We can Only Hope that South Korea and japan finally end there Book of Dispute and Write a New book with Chapters of friendship and Improved Relations away from the Shadow of past .As it will not only help both Countries But also the Whole World .There close cooperation is critical for Economy and Regional Security .