Role of Political Leadership in the Formation of Korea-Japan Relations in the Post–Cold War Era

The variables defining Korean-Japanese relations can be categorized into those pertaining to structural elements and those related to leaders. Optimists and pessimists emphasize structural factors when addressing post–Cold War relations. Pessimists say that changes in structural elements such as the post–Cold War global system are the cause of Korea and Japan drifting apart. Optimists stress another structural factor: their shared political system. But the role of the political leadership, to which neither optimists nor pessimists directly refer, is crucial in the short term in turning historical issues into diplomatic conflicts. Issues in the past relations of the two neighbors have not always become thorny diplomatic controversies, nor have they always prevailed in the links between the two countries. Relations between Korea and Japan are highly likely to expand in an amicable way as long as their leaders manage topics surrounding the past in a manner that prevents them from triggering diplomatic disputes.