Table of Contents
ASIAN GIANTS
- Japanese Economy – $5.18 trillion
- Economy of South Korea – $1.619 trillion
SOUTH KOREAN COMPANIES
JAPANESE COMPANIES
JAPAN-SOUTH KOREA FEUD
- For decades, Japan and South Korea have managed to keep their feuds largely limited to rhetorical barbs and diplomatic snubs.
- Their dispute over what they see as proper contrition for Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula
KOREA UNDER JAPANESE RULE
KOREA UNDER JAPANESE RULE
- Korea was under Japanese rule, between 1910 and 1945
- Japanese rule over Korea ended on 15th August 1945 upon the Surrender of Japan in World War II and the armed forces of the United States and the Soviet Union occupied the territory.
JAPANESE EXPLOITATION
- Japanese rule remains controversial in modern-day North Korea and South Korea and its negative repercussions continue to affect these countries, including the industrialization plan to solely benefit Japan, the exploitation of Korean people, the marginalization of Korean history and culture, the environmental exploitation of the Korean Peninsula, and the status of Chinilpa.
COMFORT WOMEN
- The terms “comfort women” are euphemisms for women in Japanese military brothels in occupied countries, who were often recruited by deception or abducted and forced into sexual slavery
THE 1965 DEAL
- The U.S. helped broker the 1965 treaty establishing ties between Japan and South Korea that included a payment from Tokyo of about $300 million — $2.4 billion in today’s money. The pact said all claims are “settled completely and finally.” South Korea’s then autocratic government used the funding as seed money for its industries.
COMPENSATION
- There has been a constant call from the South Korean public (and to some extent, Japanese with left or liberal political leaning) that Japan should compensate Korean individuals who suffered from Japanese colonial rule. Also, the 1996 U.N. resolution by Commission On Human Rights recommended that Japan accept legal responsibility and pay compensation to individual victims of Japanese military sexual slavery, known as “comfort women”.
WHAT HAPPENED RECENTLY
- South Korea Supreme Court decision, which initially affected 18 claimants who won compensation ranging from about $88,000 to $134,000 each. South Korean President Moon Jaein has argued the treaty doesn’t prevent Koreans from suing Japanese firms and that the court decisions should be respected.
TOKYO SOUTH KOREA TRADE WAR
- Japan think that it has paid compensation for what happened during the Japanese Occupation of Korea
- And this action by South Korean supreme court will ruin relations between both countries
THE EAST ASIAN TRADE WAR BEGINS
- Japan this week announced restrictions on hi-tech materials exported to South Korea, as both countries remain locked in a row over forced labour
- An online petition calling for Seoul to ‘retaliate’ against Japan garnered 17,000 supporters in four days
- South Koreans call for boycott of Japanese cars, beer and cosmetics as ‘trade war’ intensifies
HUGE IMPLICATIONS
- Japan is South Korea’s second-most important source of imports behind China, with US$54.2 billion worth of products brought in each year.
- Machinery accounts for more than 7 per cent of total Japanese imports, while integrated circuits account for 5.2 per cent. Other significant sectors include photographic laboratory equipment, raw plastic sheeting, chemicals, hot-rolled iron and cars.
SOLUTION
- The U.S. has traditionally stepped in when tensions have become heated between two of Asia’s largest economies as they all confront security threats from North Korea and the ever-expanding shadow of China’s military in the region.
- Trump needs to step up
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