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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after a press conference in Tokyo regarding the results of the House of Councillors election on July 22. (Reuters/Yonhap News)
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Wire service says Moon and Abe’s job is to “tamp down tensions, not inflame them”
After the New York Times concluded that Japan’s export controls on South Korea present a challenge to free world trade, Bloomberg has also strongly criticized Japan’s measures, going so far as to describe them as “foolish.” “Victory in Japan’s upper house elections over the weekend gives Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the political clout to do many things. The first should be to extricate Japan from the foolish trade war he’s launched against neighboring South Korea,” the wire service said in a July 22 editorial titled “Abe’s Trade War with South Korea Is Hopeless.” After providing an explanation of Japan’s export controls, the editorial said, “Japanese officials have claimed that the measure was intended to prevent high-tech exports from being illegally transferred to North Korea. But the move was clearly intended as retaliation for recent South Korean [Supreme Court] decisions awarding damages to laborers forced to work for Japanese companies during the colonial period.” The editorial explained that both South Korea and Japan “have reason to feel aggrieved.” South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s decision to scrap the comfort women agreement signed by his predecessor “only fueled the narrative, common in Japan, that no amount of apologies or compensation would ever be enough,” the wire service said. “Abe, for his part, is abusing trade measures to resolve a political dispute. His move echoes the bullying tactics favored by China and US President Donald Trump. It’s especially hypocritical for a leader who had, till now, won well-deserved plaudits for strengthening the global trading order.” “No one expects [the two countries’] deeply felt grievances to be healed easily. But both Moon and Abe should remember that their job is to tamp down such tensions, not inflame them,” Bloomberg said at the conclusion of the editorial. By Yi Yong-in, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
