South Korea maintains a political and security alliance with the United States since the Korean War and its major foreign policy issue remains North Korea. South Korea also has a complex relationship with Japan due to their shared history, including Japan's colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945. While South Korea and Japan are important economic partners today, historical issues from World War II continue to strain their political ties. Both the U.S. and China play influential roles in the region as South Korea works to balance its relationships.

1. South Korea’s Foreign Relations

2. South Korea’s Strategic Posture
• Political and security alliance with U.S. since
the end of the Korean War in 1953
• The major issue is overwhelmingly North
Korea
– The “Sunshine Policy” of active engagement under
President Kim Dae-Jung (1998-2003)
– Higher tensions under President Lee Myung-Bak
(2008-2013)

3. U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement
• The “biggest trade deal since NAFTA” was
passed by U.S. Congress in 2011.
• During the negotiation process, both
administrations faced opposition from strong
domestic agricultural lobbies.
– Korean rice farmers
– U.S. cattle farmers
• U.S. automobile industry

4. Korea-Japan Relations
• Historical legacies date back two millennia
• Cultural proximity
– Language family
– Written characters
– Confucianism
– Buddhism
– ...

5. Japanese Invasions
• 1592-1598, Japanese invasion was defeated
by joint China-Korea forces.
• 1894-1895 war between Qing China and Japan
over control of Korea.
• 1904-1905 war between Russia and Japan
• 1910 Japan annexed Korea

6. Japan’s Occupation 1910-1945
• Current historical issues:
– Japanese statements of remorse for World War II
– Korean laborers during World War II
– Korean “comfort women” during World War II
– Yasukuni Shrine (convicted war criminals)
– ...

7. Wartime Atrocities in the Relations
• Kono Statement of 1993
– The statement, named after then Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yohei Kono, contained a landmark
apology to the sex slaves known euphemistically in
Japan as “comfort women.”
• Murayama Statement of 1995
– Then socialist Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama
(1994-1996) apologized for wartime suffering
inflicted by Japan on its Asian neighbors.

8. Normalization of Relations 1965
• President Park Chung-Hee of South Korea
established diplomatic relations with Japan.
• Economic benefits
• Resentment

9. Territorial Dispute
• Dokdo (in Korean) / Takeshima (in Japanese)
• South Korean government position:
– “Dokdo ... is an integral part of Korean territory
historically, geographically, and under international
law.”
• Japanese government position:
– “Takeshima is clearly an inherent territory of Japan, in
the light of historical facts and based upon
international law.”

10. Trading Partners
• South Korea is Japan’s
– 3rd largest export market (8%)
– 6th largest source of imports (5%)
• As South Korea’s export destination, Japan
dropped from 3rd place (7%) to 5th (4.9%)
• As South Korea’s 2nd largest import source,
Japan’s share dropped from 12% to 10.5% in
2015.

11. Trade and Investment
2010 2011 2012 2013
Japan-South Korea
total trade growth
5.96% -4.35% 10.55%
Japanese
investment in
South Korea
$1.085
billion
$2.439
billion
$3.996
billion
$3.286
billion
South Korean
investment in
Japan
$559
million
$47
million

12. Role of US and China
• US bilateral alliances with Japan and with
South Korea respectively
– Common concerns over North Korea’s nuclear
program and China’s rising power
• China is the top trade partner of Japan and of
South Korea

13. South Korea’s Ties with China
• Growing economic relationship with China
• China passed the U.S. in 2003 to become
South Korea’s largest trading partner
• In 2015, 26% of South Korea’s exports went to
China, nearly double the share for the U.S.
• In 2015, 21% of South Korea’s imports came
from China, more than the shares of Japan and
U.S. combined.

14. South Korea’s New Role in Asia
• Playing a “balancing” or mediating role in regional
disputes
– territorial disputes between China and Japan
– nuclear standoff between North Korea and U.S.
• Building Seoul into a logistics and business hub for
the region
• However, actual ability seems limited
Thank you!
Marcelo Gomes Freire Partner