Godzilla vs Pulgasari: Anti-Japanism and Anti-Communism as Dueling Antagonisms in South Korean Politics

Author:

Shaw MeredithORCID

Abstract

AbstractSouth Korea's persistent enmity towards its erstwhile colonizer Japan has been a compelling topic of East Asian international relations scholarship for decades. This article argues that the historical evolution of South Korea's democracy offers a vital and overlooked piece of this puzzle. Given that it emerged from one of the most virulently anti-communist dictatorships of the Cold War period, in a society facing an ongoing threat from communist North Korea, any left-of-center opposition movement faced an uphill battle against severe anti-communism. In such circumstances, the only way for a leftist opposition party to survive was by pitting its stronger anti-Japan reputation against conservatives’ anti-communism. After South Korea's democracy stabilized, liberals tried and failed to overturn the anti-leftist institutions left over from the Cold War and then sought equilibrium through parallel rhetoric targeting pro-Japanese elements. Today, neither left nor right can afford to allow a final amicable settlement with its respective target of antagonism. Through analyses of domestic political rhetoric targeting alleged pro-Japanese or pro-communist elements, this paper demonstrates how these competing antagonisms achieved an uneasy equilibrium that undergirds South Korean political dynamics to this day.

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Subject

Political Science and International Relations,Economics and Econometrics,Sociology and Political Science,Development

Reference55 articles.

1. Loss Aversion and Risk-Seeking in Korea–Japan Relations;You;Journal of East Asian Studies,2020

2. Kelly, Robert . 2015. “Why South Korea Is So Obsessed with Japan.” The Interpreter, 4 June. www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/why-south-korea-so-obsessed-japan).

3. Walt, Stephen . 2012. “Bad News for Balancing in East Asia.” Foreign Policy, Dec. 3. http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/12/03/bad_news_for_balancing_in_east_asia.

4. McGill, Peter . 2014. “Why History Is a Problem for Park Geun-hye in Confronting Japan.” East Asia Forum, September 23.

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