Session

Historical Reconciliation and Dialogue: Building a Future-oriented South Korea-Japan Relationship

Although the Korean government has suggested a solution with regard to the implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision for the victims of forced mobilization, quite a few potential sources of conflict still exist. One of them is Japan’s push to list the Sado Mine, where Koreans were forced into labor, as a World Heritage. Prime Minister Kishida’s view of history is also not well received by the Korean public. The issue of historical perception cannot be resolved by political decisions or one-off remarks. Continued efforts should be made to narrow the gaps in the ways of viewing history. This session will look in to the Kim Dae-Jung-Obuchi Joint Declaration of 1998 and the Korea-Japan Joint History Research Committee, which was launched in the 2000s, to examine what efforts have been made by the two countries to address the issues arising from the different views of history and what have been their achievements and limitations, and to suggest tasks that lie ahead.