Japan's Weaponization of Trade with South Korea

(Source- YTN News July 12) Title- 'Economic retaliation' Abe answers the question "What exactly is South Korea's mistake?" Abe's national security reason is an excuse. Abe, "South Korea's sanctions measures against North Korea can't be trusted." "As South Korea has not kept it's international obligations concerning the forced labor problem, clearly isn't it natural to think that economic regulations concerning North Korea aren't being kept?"

(Source- SBS/ondemandkorea.com) This historic image of General Jeon Bong Jun, also known as "Nokdu" (mung bean), was interposed with the scene recreated in the current South Korean historical drama "Nokdu Flower." The scene depicts Nokdu for posterity after he and his military staff were sentenced to death. Nokdu was the leader of the Korean peasants' revolt that arose out of the decadence, corruption. violence and poverty of late Chosun. The peasant revolution in the late 19th Century precipitated a pretext for the Japanese invasion and occupation of Korea which didn't end till August 1945. In the image the condemned General Jeon (center) is being escorted by Japanese police in 1895.


Everything Abe has arranged over the last few weeks has been a calculated insult to South Korea. JTBC reports Japan’s removal of South Korea from the “white list” of preferred trade status countries is scheduled to be implemented on August 15, Korean Independence Day, the day it was liberated from Japanese colonial rule by the United States. South Korea has offered to negotiate with Japan to mitigate the impact of lawsuits against Japanese corporations operating in South Korea with a legacy of wartime slave labor. Why wouldn’t South Korea present a request to withdraw the proposed burdensome trade license requirements recently begun against businesses exporting computer related materials to South Korea? The Japanese contention that they didn’t is absurd.

Why isn’t Japan interested in having a third party international body investigate its allegations that South Korean compliance mechanisms to prevent conversion of strategic materials to North Korea are inadequate? The truth is that Japan’s allegations are largely unsupported. Even a conservative US expert observer of Korean affairs, Scott Snyder said on VOA's Washington Talk this weekend that Japan has a “perception problem” with respect to this issue.

Abe’s motivation is to foster his nationalistic LDP party this election season in Japan with xenophobic red baiting against South Korea. While his views seem to be garnering popular support, the Japanese media are not entirely onboard. His other goal is to inflict heavy political damage on the administration of Moon Jae In which doesn’t dance to the previously dominant conservative tune of pro-Japan politics characteristic of prior South Korean dictatorships and their 21st Century progeny on the Korean right. While the US refrains from taking sides in the “trade dispute” which began with Japan’s unilateral action, (sharing characteristics of Trump’s style of foreign policy), it is neglecting the damage that will be caused to international trade, our alliances, and political stability and security in northeast Asia. Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to be using the situation to inveigle greater military support from both South Korea and Japan for its unwise policies toward Iran.