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The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash: East Asian Security and the United States

Online ISBN:
9780231539289
Print ISBN:
9780231171700
Publisher:
Columbia University Press
Book

The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash: East Asian Security and the United States

Scott Snyder,
Scott Snyder
CFR
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Published:
26 May 2015
Online ISBN:
9780231539289
Print ISBN:
9780231171700
Publisher:
Columbia University Press

Abstract

Japan and South Korea are Western-style democracies with open-market economies committed to the rule of law. They are also US allies. However, despite their shared interests, shared values, and geographic proximity, divergent national identities have driven a wedge between them. The book investigates the roots of this split and its ongoing threat to the region and the world. It isolates competing notions of national identity as the main obstacle to a productive partnership between Japan and South Korea. The book shows how fundamentally incompatible, rapidly changing conceptions of national identity in Japan and South Korea—and not struggles over power or structural issues—have complicated territorial claims and international policy. Despite changes in the governments of both countries and concerted efforts by leading political figures to encourage US–ROK–Japan security cooperation, the Japan–Korea relationship continues to be hobbled by history and its deep imprint on ideas of national identity. This book recommends bold, policy-oriented prescriptions for overcoming problems in Japan–Korea relations and facilitating trilateral cooperation among these three Northeast Asian allies, recognizing the power of the public on issues of foreign policy, international relations, and the prospects for peace in Asia.

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