Perception Gaps on Historical Issues within/between Japan and South Korea

• In Event: Identity and Politics in International History

Abstract

Why have Japan and South Korea never reconciled over the past? After a series of reconciliation attempts through official and/or unofficial channels since the 1990s, there still seems a long way to reach genuine reconciliation between the two countries. One of the critical empirical (and perhaps, normative) issues around the memory struggles is that each party tends to picture the other side as a united entity with unified perceptions/opinions, and largely overlooks the domestic memory struggles of its counterpart. However, reconciliation efforts are constitutive in nature, subject to socio-political contexts of domestic as well as international environments; this unitary actor perspective is by no means tenable. Also important, memory/nationalism actors often utilize this unitary actor picture to advance their interest in their domestic memory struggle. In other words, they securitize it. By referring to the theoretical concepts, including securitization, cognitive closure, and resonance, this study is to reveal and disentangle perception gaps to be observed within/between two countries. The empirical focus of this study is on the evolution and development of Comfort Women and Forced Labor issues in both Japan and Korea, and the study analyzes two dimensions of the interaction processes: (1) the domestic interaction between the state and the public (i.e., perception gap within) and (2) the international interaction between Japan and South Korea (i.e., perception gap between).

Authors

• Kazuya Fukuoka, Saint Joseph's University

• Yangmo Ku, Norwich University