Former Japanese diplomat 'optimistic' about Seoul-Tokyo relations despite political turmoil
Published: 06 Mar. 2025, 15:20
Updated: 06 Mar. 2025, 19:05
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- LIM JEONG-WON
- [email protected]
![Kunihiko Miyake, research director of the Tokyo-based think tank Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS), speaks during an interview with the Trilateral Journalists Exchange Program delegation at the CIGS office in Tokyo on Wednesday. [TRILATERAL COOPERATION SECRETARIAT]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/03/06/bdba9b70-a74e-4f9b-9121-001e92160ec5.jpg)
Kunihiko Miyake, research director of the Tokyo-based think tank Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS), speaks during an interview with the Trilateral Journalists Exchange Program delegation at the CIGS office in Tokyo on Wednesday. [TRILATERAL COOPERATION SECRETARIAT]
TOKYO — Former Japanese diplomat and expert on Korea affairs Kunihiko Miyake said he is "optimistic" about Seoul-Tokyo relations regardless of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment.
“Ten years ago, I would have said that it would take another 30 years for relations to improve between Korea and Japan,” said Miyake, who now serves as research director of the Tokyo-based think tank Canon Institute for Global Studies, in an interview with the delegation of the Trilateral Journalists Exchange Program, sponsored by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat in Tokyo, on Wednesday.
Miyake served as a diplomat in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is an expert on Korea-Japan relations, Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation and Japanese foreign policy and security.
“Domestic political circumstances in Korea and Japan unfortunately still affect a lot of the bilateral relations, but the ideological leanings of younger Koreans and Japanese are becoming less pronounced,” said Miyake. “This will contribute to less animosity — or whatever you may call it — between the two countries.”
Miyake also gave an overview of the background of how the democratization movement in Korea and the older generations of Korea and Japan influenced bilateral relations, and argued that the Japanese government “could have, and should have done more” to respond to the initiative by the Korean government in recent years to improve ties between Seoul and Tokyo.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: This year celebrates the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan. How do you assess the current state of Korea-Japan relations, and how will the current political situation regarding the impeachment of President Yoon affect relations between the two countries?
A: I thought 10 years ago that it would take a long time for Korea and Japan to reach a true sense of refreshment, simply because the domestic political situations in both countries make up unfortunately 90 percent of Korea-Japan relations. The reason is very simple — given the internal domestic politics in Korea, it's a democracy and you have freedom of speech. Therefore, different groups form different political parties as we also do.
And the legacy of the democratization movement in the 1980s in Korea dramatically impacted the future course of the Korean domestic politics as well as its foreign policy, especially its policy vis-à-vis Japan. Japan had something similar in the 1960s and '70s — we had very strong student movements in my country. Those students were anti-American, anti-Korean, pro-China, pro-Soviet Union and radical sometimes and liberal most of the time. These former student protesters made up the political, business and media sectors for a long time in Japan.
But now there is a much more neutral generation coming into the sphere, who can probably look at Korea more objectively. So, we are not at a certain level playing field, and for Korea, when I visited recently, I felt that it is changing even more rapidly. Even the progressive party in Korea is not talking about Korea-Japan relations as often as before and not criticizing as harshly as before. So, I think in a nutshell, I am much more optimistic about Korea-Japan relations now than 10 years ago or 20 years ago.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba used to talk of an East Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but after he became prime minister he doesn’t mention it much. And U.S. President Donald Trump seems not to put very much importance on traditional alliances. What are your thoughts on this, and is an East Asian version of NATO feasible?
NATO is comprised of nations with a Christian background mostly, and there is a high level of homogeneity in the concept of NATO. In our part of the world, it is so heterogeneous and very diversified. An East Asian version of NATO is not feasible, and that is why Ishiba has stopped mentioning it, I think. It was Ishiba as a person’s idea, which is different from his policies as the prime minister of Japan.
How do you perceive the recent changes in the United States, such as the onset of the second Donald Trump administration impacting the country's role in East Asian security? And what implications might this have for Korea-U.S.-Japan trilateral cooperation?
There are so many chaotic things Trump does and says, but he doesn’t know what he is doing, first of all. Trump’s foreign policy consists of three completely different elements. Number one is his personal inclination — he hates elites — and number two, he is a pacifist without intervention, in that he wants peace but does not want to interfere. Three is that he is always interested in a big power sponsored international order. And put these all together, it’s so chaotic that it’s not going to work, in my view. Trump should leave the problems of Asia, the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere to those in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Trump is unfortunately ending a peaceful and happy 80 years since the world wars.
How do you view China's current strategy in East Asia? What should be the approach of Korea and Japan in responding to China's growing influence in the region?
American anxiety vis-à-vis China is bipartisan, and at this particular moment, Beijing is also not in a position to change its foreign policy anytime soon. So, I think the tension regarding China’s rise will continue for at least a while. And I would like to say that history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. Japan made a strategic mistake in 1941 when we attacked Pearl Harbor and woke the Americans up. We underestimated the power of the United States and overestimated the power of Germany and Italy. We were a rising power that was very nationalistic, very xenophobic, potentially populistic and very discriminatory. We tried to change the international order and failed. I hope China is not making the same mistake.
What do you make of Korea’s efforts in recent years to improve relations with Japan?
The Korean government has taken a forward-looking attitude toward improving the relations between the two countries, and I think our government should have responded more positively to the initiatives taken by Korea. But I am afraid our government was and is not strong enough. Unfortunately, after the assassination of Shinzo Abe, the political turmoil has started and what used to be right is wrong now, and the Abe faction has been torn apart. There is no strong political leader to make a sometimes unpopular but tough decision with respect to Korea-Japan relations.
BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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