of the 190 Uniqlo stores here in South Korea more than 60 of them had to close over the
past few years South Korea and Japan have a rich history with some cultural similarities
but tensions have been simmering beneath the surface for decades with many flare-ups that
have threatened to cause havoc and most recently tension bubbled up in 2019 with a trade war in a
bitterly increasingly bitter trade dispute South Korea says it will remove Japan from its list
of trusted trade Partners over an ongoing trade dispute this man is destroying his japanese-made
car this has its roots in Japan's colonization of South Korea between 1910 and 1945. the crisis
is rooted in historical grievances last year South Korean courts ordered Japanese firms to
pay compensation for forced labor during the second world war some people proclaimed and
uh crowd do not find Japanese product to do not go to Japan this conflict erupted after Japan imposed
export restrictions on some materials that are used by South Korean companies in production of
some high-tech Goods this move was basically a retaliation for a South Koreans Court decision
it was a decision that ordered Japanese companies to compensate them for their use of forced labor
during World War II well it used to be bad in the past but we we held grudges from the
history the lots of young people they do not have any negative feeling against Japanese people even
I'm old man so I have probably negative a feeling against Japanese culture or Japanese government
or some they did something wrong while things seem to be smoothing out what is behind the
tension and what does the U.S stand to gain or lose from all of this much of their decades old
tension has resurfaced when Japan said no more importing some crucial materials that were used
by companies like Samsung and LG the restrictions impact South Korea's high-tech Industries because
of its production of semiconductors and displays as a result people started the campaign to boycott
all Japanese products there was something going between Koreans often it's called No Japan so it
means not using Japanese products including cars some of the cars were terrorized they were there
were people vandalizing Japanese cars outside but to understand this trade War we have to go back
in history this goes back to this related to the issues of forced labor during Japan's occupation
of Korea from 1910 to 1945 the boycott of Japanese products was felt long and hard it was a shock for
many like Japanese retailer Uniqlo which has more than 2 000 stores around the world Uniqlo
is a widely popular Japanese brand but here in South Korea it's been struggling but as it's
been growing massively it's also had to shut down dozens of its stores throughout South Korea and
this is one of the Uniqlo stores that didn't shut down as a result of all of this the protests of no
Japan products and yeah Uniqlo had to close a lot of the stores now but recently the trade dispute
was mostly settled with the two countries having a summit for the first time in 12 years another
point of tension between South Korea and Japan has been technology see Samsung is a South Korean
company and it's been taking over Japan's tech industry for many years today Samsung has become
the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductors and of course it produces many electronic devices
like smartphones TVs and laptops the reason behind Samsung's success is its focus on innovation in
research and development in fact it's invested heavily with more than 400 000 employees around
the world and Samsung's investment in r d is more than double the investment of Japan's
largest tech company Sony another reason Japan has struggled comes down to its intense work culture
that promotes a rigid structure over Innovation or taking risks but where does the US stand in
all of this tension between the two countries well on one hand the US has a long-standing alliance
with both South Korea and Japan there are key Partners In keeping security and stability in
this region the U.S has military bases in both Japan and South Korea and it relies on them to
help them with threats posed by North Korea so you see the tension between South Korea and Japan
threatens to ruin these alliances and create divisions which could weaken the US's overall
position in the region in fact the trade war in particular had significant impact on the
economies of both countries and that impact could have knock-on effects for The Wider region in even
the global economy a lot of people cancel their flights or they because even if you don't feel
like using Japanese products or even if you want to go to Japan people around you will criticize
you for that if the dispute kept escalating it could have put pressure on the US to choose side
and actually damaged relationships with one or even both of the US's allies and the US has a
strategic interest in ensuring that technological innovation in East Asia continues to drive Global
growth and competitiveness the tension between the two is deeply rooted South Korea refusing
to forget or let go see when Japan occupied Korea Japan committed many war crimes against the Korean
people many Koreans were forced into labor and many Korean women were forced into sexual slavery
by the Japanese Army they also invaded they can't keep some people in Korea like 50 years ago then
they carved silence they didn't they haven't apologized to Korea sincerely after Japan's
defeat in World War II Korea was liberated from Japanese Occupation and the country was divided
into North and South Korea Japan and South Korea established diplomatic relations in 1965 and Japan
provided economic aid to South Korea which helped the country to develop very rapidly yet historical
disputes between these two countries have still never been resolved see South Korea accused Japan
of not apologizing enough for its War crime demanding that Japan pay that compensation but
see Japan argues that all claims have been settled through the 1965 agreement of course it should be
punished and they should apologize officially but in these days young people they do not know what
happened in the past for example when we have a negative feeling against Japan what about North
Korea so what's next South Korea in Japan reached an agreement to end their trade War the agreement
came after several rounds of talks under the agreement South Korea agreed to end its boycott of
Japanese products and Japan agreed to remove its export restrictions on some crucial materials used
by South Korean companies these materials include hydrogen fluoride which is used in the production
of semiconductors and displays we don't hold any grudges against them anymore but if they go into
Political matters it just gets complicated so we are not a perfect Ally when the trade war ended
this was a massive relief to many businesses and investors too grandparents and my grandparents are
all gone so I can't I don't really know what they would say might have some Grudge the old
older generation might hold stronger grudge against them but yeah not anymore the younger
Generations don't really think about that really seriously the resolution of the trade War also has
bigger implications for the Region's stability and prosperity because South Korea and Japan
are two of the largest economies in Asia and their economic interdependence is actually very critical
to maintaining Regional stability and as for its next Generation Well they seem to care the least
do you like uniqlo? oh I do and were you uh like concerned at all that it's a Japanese company when
there was people like boycotting made in Japan yeah oh I don't care about that so yeah so I just
I just buy you just you just like the clothes you don't care like what country it's from yes right