Opinion｜Yoon Suk Yeol's kowtowing to the US and Japan: what can humiliating diplomacy achieve?

After more than 50 days, leaders of Japan and South Korea have resumed their"shuttle diplomacy" with reciprocal visits.

Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, will visit Seoul for a two-day visit on May 7th and 8th, marking the first visit by a Japanese Prime Minister to South Korea in 12 years. This follows South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to Tokyo in March, despite criticism and public pressure at home for what many saw as "humiliating diplomacy".

Since March, Yoon's handling of historical disputes between South Korea and Japan, as well as his comments on Japan, have sparked outrage at home. For example, he decided to use private funds to compensate Korean victims of forced labor in Japan, and said in an interview that"I cannot accept the notion Japan must kneel because of our history 100 years ago". Some critics accused him of"kowtowing" to Japan and even suggested he should"naturalize" and move to Japan.

Despite the domestic opposition, Yoon seems determined to push forward. On April 27th, he expressed his loyalty to the US-Japan-Republic of Korea Trilateral Partnership in a speech at the US Congress, citing the growing nuclear and missile threat from North Korea.

According to media reports, on May 3rd, Yoon met with Takeo Akiba, the Director-general of Japan's National Security Council, who relayed the message that Kishida's decision to visit South Korea was a gesture of appreciation for Yoon's"determination". This"determination" refers to Yoon's willingness to make significant concessions on the issue of Korean forced labor during World War II, despite domestic political pressure.

In particular, Kishida's visit has been met with high expectations from the Korean public regarding this issue. But in Japan's view, the matter was already settled with the signing of the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea. The treaty included an agreement in which Japan provided 300 million dollars in free aid and 200 million dollars in loans to South Korea, which also covered compensation for laborers. Therefore, Japan no longer recognizes the individual compensation claims of Korean forced labors.

Moreover, despite what many believe to be a significant concession by the administration of President Yoon, right-wing forces in Japan are still not satisfied. They believe that recognizing South Korean organizations as compensation representatives for the laborers is tantamount to admitting individual compensation claims by Korean laborers. They are demanding that South Korea remove the Comfort Women Statues and not pursue further Japanese responsibility.

In light of these issues, it seems unlikely that Kishida will apologize for historical disputes during his visit to South Korea.

Additionally, the dispute over the Dokdo/Takeshima Islands has caused great rifts between the two nations, and there is no easy solution in sight. Even with the US's help in mediating security issues, South Korea and Japan still have diverging interests. Therefore, it is too early to expect any significant progress in terms of territorial and security issues.

In terms of the economic agenda, both South Korea and Japan have recently agreed to restore each other's"white list" status, meaning they will offer each other trade privileges and remove related restrictions. However, analysts say that just as South Korea and Japan are completely dependent on the US for security issues, they are unlikely to be able to make independent decisions in the economic, especially high-tech, field. It remains to be seen whether Kishida's visit will bring any economic benefits to South Korea.

觀點評論｜尹錫悅向美日“叩頭”，屈辱外交能換來什麼回報？

日韓領導人時隔50多天實現互訪，兩國“穿梭外交”正式重啟。

岸田文雄將於5月7日至8日對首爾進行為期兩天的訪問，這將是日本首相時隔12年再次訪韓。此前的3月，韓國總統尹錫悅曾頂着國內批評其“屈辱外交”的輿論壓力訪問過東京。

今年3月以來，尹錫悅對韓日歷史爭議問題的處理以及多次涉日言論，例如決定自籌資金幫日本賠償韓國勞工受害者，接受採訪時稱“無法接受日本須為歷史下跪”等等，都在韓國國內引燃怒火，反對派直接炮轟，日本沒跪，反倒是尹錫悅先跪了。民眾甚至在韓媒報道下留言讓尹錫悅“歸化去日本吧！”

然而，即便國內怎麼反對，種種跡象表明，尹錫悅已經是鐵了心打算一條道走到黑了。4月27日，他在美國國會發表演說時就大表“忠心”，稱要強化韓美日三邊同盟，以應對日益緊迫的朝鮮核導威脅。

媒體報道稱，3日，尹錫悅會見了來訪的日本國安保障局局長秋葉剛男，後者傳話稱，岸田拍板提前回訪韓國，就是要回報尹錫悅的決斷，所謂“決斷“意指其不惜承受國內政治壓力，在二戰勞工問題上向日本作出重大原則性讓步。

秋葉剛男口中的“回報”，也確實是韓國輿論對岸田此訪的極大期待，但是，這個問題之所以爭議這麼多年，就是因為在日方看來，半個多世紀前簽署的《日韓請求權協定》，當年日方曾向韓方支付了3億美元無償援助和2億美元貸款，其中包括支付給勞工的補償金，所以問題已解決，日方不再承認韓國個人的索賠權。

此外，即便外界認為尹錫悅政府作出極大妥協，實際上，日本政界右翼勢力仍不滿意，認為岸田內閣認可韓國財團代為補償勞工，等於承認了韓國勞工有個人索賠權，他們還要求韓方拆除慰安婦少女銅像並不得再追究日本責任。

綜上，可以想見，想在歷史爭議問題上讓岸田跑到韓國“致歉”，似乎可能性不大。

除了前述歷史爭議以外，韓日兩國圍繞獨島（日本稱“竹島”）的分歧巨大，矛盾難以化解；哪怕是在美國極力撮合下的安保問題，韓日雙方其實也是同床異夢。所以，期待岸田此行能在領土與安全問題上對韓國有所“回報”，也為時尚早。

此外，就經濟議程而言，韓日都在近期同意恢復將對方納入“貿易白名單”，也就是要互賦貿易優惠，解除相關限制。但分析認為，正如在安保領域完全受制於第三方也就是美國，韓日兩國在經濟尤其是高科技領域，能不能自己說了算都是問題，更別說讓岸田為韓國帶來什麼經濟福利了。(更多新聞資訊，請關注羊城派 pai.ycwb.com)

撰文 | 冷爽翻譯 | 劉佳慧

來源 | 羊城晚報·羊城派

責編 | 戚美青

校對 | 趙丹丹