The role of Japan’s civil society organizations and the deteriorating relationship between Japan and South Korea

Abstract

In recent years, the process of reconciliation between South Korea and Japan has been going backwards, at both governmental and societal levels. Previous studies, including those from historical, realist, and domestic perspectives, have attributed this to government-level actions only. This study, however, treats civil society as an active agent and scrutinizes evolving South Korea–Japan relations through the prism of cooperation/conflict between Japan’s civil society and its government. Cases involving forced sex slaves and history textbooks will be used to examine how Japan’s civil society affects policies on postwar issues, or to discover the reasons for their limited influence. Because such structural factors as the Japanese government’s control over civil society and civil society’s restricted influence on government cannot be changed rapidly, this study recommends that civil society organizations in each country form a transnational civil society as an alternative way to create solidarity and give meaning to Japanese civil society’s past efforts at reconciliation.