[Editorial] Koizumi Gov't Becoming Antagonistic Towards Asia

A few days ago foreign minister Ban Ki Moon called on Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and expressed strong regret about his worshiping at the Yasukuni Shrine. Immediately after that he appointed Shinzo Abe as chief cabinet secretary and Taro Aso as the foreign minister in his new cabinet. Both are men of far-right tendencies when it comes to issues of Japan's past such as worshiping at Yasukuni and textbooks that distort history. It was like spitting on the face of the Korean government, which had decided Ban should visit Japan despite deteriorating public opinion.

What Koizumi is has done with this latest cabinet shuffle is make it clear he will move thoroughly pivot around the United States, even at the expense of sacrificing relations with Asia. Abe says that hard-liners are better at foreign affairs and now he has been positioned at the front of the government, so you can guess what the future of foreign policy towards Asia is going to be. Abe has also repeated his intention to go ahead with worshiping at Yasukuni, and he is also one of Japan's most representative hard-liners towards North Korea and has been calling for economic sanctions against Pyongyang. It is highly likely that the appointment of these men will have a negative influence on the six-party talks that reopen this month and on negotiations between North Korea and Japan about establishing diplomatic relations. It seems like the tone of Japan's foreign policy towards Asian countries like North and South Korea and China is moving beyond discord and disregard and instead towards antagonism.

Even without this Koizumi's government was being criticized for deliberately intensifying discord with the neighboring countries of Asia for actively pursuing plans to make Japan a military power. If you look at the basic outlines of it all it is a replay of the behavior what imperial Japan did in the past. The Korean government has a certain degree of responsibility to bear for the situation having deteriorated, because its response has been unprincipled. It is time to re-evaluate your policies when you approach someone in good faith only to have that not be what comes back in return. Just as Ban has said, the summit scheduled for next month should be held only on the premise that Koizumi has the right understanding of history and does not worship at Yasukuni.

The Hankyoreh, 2 November 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]