Apology Performance in World Politics

• In Event: Transitional and Transnational Justice and Democracy in Korean Politics

Abstract

Theories of collective memory in International Relations (IR) scholarship suggest that South Korea-Japan relations are not only politicized for domestic political reasons but are vulnerable to the mobilization of collective memory in either society. While these are important arguments, they do not offer any novel understanding of the problem of apology and collective memory, implying a status-quo-oriented argument. Drawing on the sociology of performance, I argue that an embodied performance by those in power, such as leaders, can persuade an audience because their public performance helps construct a social reality that is hard to refute or deny in terms of its occurrence. Using survey experiments fielded in South Korea, I show that a Japanese leader's apology performance could sway the South Korean public's opinion toward bilateral relations in a positive direction. This has important implications for bilateral relations and the security landscape in Northeast Asia as symbolized by the Camp David Summit of 2023. First, it provides preliminary evidence on the power of a leader's embodied performance in influencing foreign public opinion, offering an ideal, albeit less feasible, solution to the South Korea-Japan historical spats. Second, the temporary effect of such performance is outweighed by the South Korean public's willingness to develop a more flexible, rather than rigid, distrust toward Japan that opens up avenues for exploring how deeply embedded distrust could be ameliorated.

Author

• Minseon Ku, William & Mary