Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has taken aim at Korea,... saying Seoul does not understand
Tokyo's sentiments on a statue that was recently installed outside the Japanese consulate in
the southern Korean city of Busan.
The statue, representing a former victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery,... sparked
anger in Tokyo,... leading it to withdraw its ambassador and another top-level diplomat.
It's been over two months and counting but there's still no news of their return.
To delve deeper into where this rocky relationship is headed, Oh Soo-young filed this report
from Tokyo.
Diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan remain in deadlock,... after Japan pulled
out its ambassador to Korea and consul-general in Busan in early January.
The temporary withdrawal was ordered by Tokyo after civic activists erected a statue outside
the Japanese consulate in Busan -- Korea's second largest city.
"The installation of the 'comfort woman' statue in front of the Busan consulate is deeply
regrettable."
"The Korean government finds the decision made by the Japanese cabinet deeply regrettable."
Tokyo claims the statue -- a girl that represents the victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery
program -- violates the landmark agreement it reached with Seoul in December 2015,...
with which the two governments promised the so-called "comfort women" issue would be finally
and irreversibly resolved.
Korea is also crying foul.
Japanese politicians continue to make provocative remarks,... and last week, Japanese high school
textbooks were found to have omitted historical facts about the issue,... in addition to marking
the Korean islets of Dokdo as their own.
This has further incensed civic groups, which believed the agreement failed to reflect the
wishes of the victims themselves.
It's almost been three months since the Japanese envoys were recalled.
Will Korea and Japan break out of this predicament and get their relationship back on track?
Without an ambassador to consult at the Japanese embassy,...
I headed to Tokyo to get some answers.
The first call I made was to the Japanese foreign ministry.
I'm calling to enquire about when the Japanese ambassador to South Korea will return to his
position.
Please ask or call to Korean embassy….
But it's a very simple question.
Can't I just get an answer?
Can I have your...
Or can I call you back?
Thank you."
"I've contacted Japan's foreign ministry several times but they've refused to give me an interview...
or a date when the Japanese ambassador will return to Korea.
It simply said it is reviewing the decision."
Given that, it seems Tokyo is in no hurry to restore its diplomatic channel to Korea.
I turned to some experts for their views.
"Japan is very concerned.
It's unsure of what to do right now before Korea appoints a new president.
It seems there's nothing it can do, because any negotiation that's undertaken now may
be of no use at all with the incoming administration."
"So we are probably not wanting any kind of revision, while we are afraid that the Korean
domestic political situation is going the other way.
You will have presidential election and most of the main candidates that they will abolish
the agreement.
But experts worry that keeping the ambassador's seat vacant for too long could worsen relations
even further.
"The presidential term begins immediately after the election, without a transition,...,
so if there's no ambassador to consult with and they can't build a relationship with the
winning candidate, bilateral relations could suffer."
Experts say Korea and Japan must move forward together, against all odds, as strategic partners.
The key element is building trust,... something that was lacking over the past year.
"Following pressure from Korea and America,...
Abe had no choice but to accept Japan's responsibility for the sex slavery issue and open the door
for negotiations.
So his actions -- the fact that he hadn't apologized himself, for instance -- have failed
to convince Korea that Japan is genuinely contrite in the spirit of the agreement."
"Had the leaders of both governments been more genuine and engaged with the public,
we might not be where are today.
If the next Korean president reassures Japan that he or she will actively persuade the
public to back the agreement,...
I believe relations can be rebuilt on new trust."
Meanwhile, the Japanese public seems tired of the diplomatic tensions.
In fact, some people I spoke to were unaware of recent events.
"I haven't heard anything."
"It's hard to say."
While those aware of contentious issues may hold differences in opinion, they believe
solutions lie above politicizing of relations.
"I am against the installation of the statue, so I think we need to find solutions through
deeper diplomatic talks.
We are neighbors, so it's vital we get along.
For the younger generation, they get along well -- it's just the politics that cause
problems."
"I wasn't taught about Japan's wartime sex slavery at school.
I don't think that's right.
I think we Japanese and the Koreans should learn about each others' histories and find
solutions."
Tourism between the two countries has continued to hit new highs.
Some 2.3 million Japanese tourists visited Korea in 2016-- an increase of 23 percent
from the year before.
The number continued to grow in January by 13 percent,... and 28 percent in February.
The number of Koreans traveling to Japan has also increased more than 20 percent in January.
"We have to have psychological bindings, mutual trust, mutual existence, and I think in order
to create this kind of atmosphere, culture is the best way and the economic exchanges."
"While diplomatic ties may have sunk to new lows, interpersonal relationships between
Korea and Japan, it seems, are livelier than ever.
Perhaps the time is ripe for hard diplomacy to move past the politics -- and catch up
with the times -- in order to find workable solutions to long-standing issues of the past.
Oh Sooyoung, Arirang News, Tokyo."