Japan-South Korea Relations in the Post-Cold War Era

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, Japan and South Korea have engaged in concerted efforts at bilateral reconciliation. Such reconciliation is a necessary condition for a stable regional order in Northeast Asia. Without a successful reconciliation between the two countries, it would be difficult to establish a peaceful Northeast Asian community that is able to go beyond historical and ideological antagonism. What factors have motivated Japan and South Korea to make efforts at bilateral reconciliation? Do their efforts contain potential for the thick reconciliation that the historical antagonists Germany and France have achieved?