One of the biggest disappointments of U.S. President Donald Trump's Asia policy has been his inability to facilitate stronger relations between Japan and South Korea — America's two most important allies in the region.
For more than 20 years, Japanese and South Korean leaders have discussed building a "future-oriented" relationship, but fundamental historical differences remain an insurmountable obstacle. Seoul's recent effective withdrawal from a 2015 agreement with Tokyo on the "comfort women" issue, as well as South Korean Supreme Court rulings ordering Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel to compensate Koreans conscripted for wartime labor during Japan's colonial rule, have aggravated historical tensions.
In March, South Korean shop owners launched a nationwide boycott of Japanese goods, with lawmakers from Gyeonggi province near Seoul even proposing that all such products be affixed with a "made by war criminals" sticker. Following last month's Group of 20 summit in Osaka, where the extent of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's interaction with South Korean President Moon Jae-in was a perfunctory handshake during the formal welcoming ceremony, Japan imposed export regulations on South Korea that threaten to disrupt global supply chains of microchips and smartphone displays. In response, Samsung's heir apparent and South Korean trade officials have engaged Japanese counterparts in Tokyo without success, and the Moon administration is preparing a case against Japan at the World Trade Organization.