What the new Cold War means

Choi Sang-yong
The author is a former ambassador to Japan and professor emeritus of political science and diplomacy at Korea University.

In the history of Korea’s diplomacy, founding president Syngman Rhee’s diplomacy with the United States during the Cold War era and President Kim Dae-jung’s diplomacy with Japan during the post-Cold War period were excellent choices fitting the spirit of the times. Faced with the new Cold War situation, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration is tasked to promote diplomacy with the U.S. and Japan as one package. During the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Korea shared the victory of America by being incorporated into the U.S.-centered Western bloc. But the new Cold War is not a duplicate of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, so it is very difficult to make proper diplomatic judgments and choices.

The Cold War was global in its scope, and the core of the contest was the systemic polarization of the communist and capitalist blocs. It was a period of absolutization of ideology that forced us to make a choice of one or the other. Then the post-Cold War era began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist systems one after another.

Today, we are living in another transitional period. The Soviet socialist revolution failed after 70 years, but the Chinese socialist system remains intact after 70 years. China is now the world’s second largest economy, justifying the socialist market economy.

The new Cold War between America and China is highly interdependent economically, as the two share the universality of market economy, although they have different ideologies. The new Cold War, therefore, should be treated as a limited Cold War situation of the 21st century. Korea should respond to it to best serve its national interests.

The Yoon administration must deal with the dilemma of maintaining the framework of security cooperation among South Korea, Japan and the U.S., while creating conditions for a peaceful coexistence with North Korea, which intensifies nuclear and missile provocations. Moreover, Seoul also needs to successfully arrange the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to explore the possibility of mutual cooperation centered on economic exchanges. In particular, the Yoon government needs to host a Korea-China-Japan summit and set proper topics as the host and create diplomatic room to lead the two countries.

The Yoon administration’s diplomacy with Japan must continue to promote national interests through future-oriented Korea-Japan relations. In the two summits, Korea and Japan have promised to inherit the 1998 joint declaration by President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. This declaration is the first agreement between the heads of state of the two countries on “a sincere remorse and apology from the heart.” At that time, both leaders appealed for reconciliation and cooperation through mutual recognition. Despite severe conflicts, Korea and Japan were able to maintain a reconciliatory mood — as seen in the Korean cultural wave, joint academic research and co-hosting of the World Cup — by responding to each issue separately.

Korea must not forget that the mainstream of Japan is the conservative politicians who have kept the tradition of the emperor system. Since 1955, the conservative politics of Japan, centered on the Liberal Democratic Party, has grown under the U.S.-initiated pacifist constitution, but its root is the nationalist conservatism established by the imperial system from the Meiji Restoration.

With the two summits, the doors to normalize Korea-Japan diplomatic relations have opened. The two countries have had similar experiences such as occupation and alliance with the U.S. after World War II. As they went through the Cold War and Korean War, Korea, Japan and the U.S. have shared the ideology of liberal democracy and formed the central axis of Northeast Asia’s politics.

Korea and Japan are among the seven advanced countries with over 50 million populations each with over $30,000 GDP per capita. In the field of human rights, they share universal values going beyond “Asian values” and ranked among the top seven military powers while maintaining non-nuclear peace regimes. When cooperation and trust between Korea and Japan grow stronger, they can keep the U.S. and China in check from pushing forward nationalist policies in the new Cold War era and play the role of Germany and France in cooperation for the European Union.

The Yoon administration has faced tremendous challenges at home and abroad, but it must overcome them with political skills for national unity. The government must prevent the polarization of public opinions that ruins national unity when it engages diplomacy with Japan. It must accept constructive criticisms with alternatives. It must not forget that reasonable criticisms can be a resource for diplomatic negotiations. Regarding the people’s dissatisfactions and resistance from opposition parties, it has the responsibility to present future-oriented goals, suggest specific means to achieve them, and explain them in a sincere manner.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.