In a Major Shift, South Korea Defies Its Alliance With Japan

[soryang]

In a Major Shift, South Korea Defies Its Alliance With Japan

Trade restrictions, an end to intelligence sharing, heated rhetoric—it’s all rooted in Japanese war crimes, papered over by a 1965 treaty in which Washington played a hidden hand.

By Tim Shorrock TODAY 2:36 PM The Nation

A bitter dispute between South Korea and Japan over compensation for Korean victims of Japan’s war crimes escalated last week when Seoul announced that it would terminate a 2016 bilateral agreement with Tokyo to share classified military intelligence. The unprecedented move drew howls of outrage from US officials and analysts that were reflected in a Washington Post headline stating that the decision “was a blow to US security interests.”

The announcement from President Moon Jae-in’s Blue House came on August 22 after months of wrangling over a 2018 Supreme Court decision in Seoul that upheld claims that Japanese corporations must pay reparations to Koreans forced to work in their mines and factories during World War II. In response, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had removed South Korea from a “white list” of preferential trading partners and slapped unprecedented trade restrictions on South Korean exports.

Best analysis of the Japan - South Korea rift thus far. Much more at the link:

https://www.thenation.com/article/south-korea-japan-cold-war/