Japanese Concerned About South Korean Polarization And Confusion

2025-02-19 03:22:40

(MENAFN- Asia Times) In the early weeks after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's attempted imposition of martial law and his subsequent impeachment by the National Assembly, the response in Japan among foreign policy specialists and in the mass media was uniformly supportive, even admiring, of the resilience of Korea's Democratic institutions.

“Yoon's action was undemocratic and inexcusable,” a senior correspondent with wide experience covering international affairs at the liberal daily Asahi Shimbun told this writer, speaking on background.“That view was widely shared in Japan right after the day of his martial law declaration and its revocation by the parliament.”

But with the arrest of President Yoon and the perception of deepening division within Korea, Japanese observers have become increasingly apprehensive, with growing worries about an absence of order. Those concerns can be perceived in the careful, though still supportive, words of senior officials and in the editorials of major Japanese dailies.

“We are watching the internal situation [in South Korea] with great interest,” Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi told the conservative monthly Gekkan Nippon.“But I want to believe in the resilience of Korea's democracy.” Iwaya echoed widespread concerns about a breakdown in the progress made in bilateral Korea-Japan relations as a result of the political shifts in Seoul.

“This is the year of the [60th] anniversary of normalization of relations between Japan and Korea,” Iwaya said.“Japan-Korea relations have gone through various phases and there have been periods of cooling down. However, Japan-Korea relations have improved greatly during the Kishida administration. We will continue to make efforts to maintain this momentum.”

The conservative dailies in Japan have expressed increasing unease over the political polarization in Korea, noting the rise of support for the conservatives and expressing worries that North Korea may take advantage of these divisions.

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