History of Japan–Korea relations
During the ancient era, exchanges of cultures and ideas between Japan and mainland Asia were common through migration, diplomatic contact and trade between the two.
The Mimizuka monument near Kyoto enshrining the mutilated body parts of at least 38,000 Koreans killed during the Japanese invasions of Korea from 1592 to 1598 illustrates this effect.
[1] However, China entered the war, pushed the UN forces out of North Korea, and a military stalemate resulted along the lines similar to the 38th parallel.
In the early 2000s, the Japanese–South Korean relationship soured when the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine, controversial for its inclusion of war criminals, every year during his term.
The debate has exacerbated nationalist pride and animosity, as teachers and professors become soldiers in an intellectual war over events more than a half-century old or even two millennia older.
After the 3rd century BC, people from the Three Kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) and Gaya in the Korean Peninsula, started to move southwards into the Kyushu region of Japan.
[18] Later on, Baekje began to lose its status as the most favored partner of Japan, in part due to its relative decline compared to Goguryeo and Silla as well as the subsequent unification of China by the Sui Dynasty.
[19] The loss of their key ally was so great that Empress Saimei said: "We learn that in ancient times there have been cases of troops being asked for and assistance requested: to render help in emergencies, and to restore that which has been interrupted, is a manifestation of ordinary principles of right.
"[20] Former generals of Baekje, including Gwisil Boksin, asked Japan to return Prince Buyeo Pung and requested military aid.
Empress Jitō honored King Zenko by giving him the hereditary title of Kudara no Konikishi and allowed him to pass on his royal lineage to future generations.
According to the Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀), Takano no Niigasa came from a background of the naturalized clansmen Yamato-no-Fuhito (和史) and was a 10th-generation descendant of King Muryeong of Baekje.
[25][26] During the middle Kamakura period, Japan suffered from the invasions of the Mongol Empire (Yuan dynasty), which was then dominant on the continent, and its partner kingdom, the Goryeo of Korea.
[28] The two Mongol – Korean fleets were destroyed by storms, giving rise to the myth of the Kamikaze, the divine winds that protected Japan.
Beginning in the 15th century, feudal lords from Tsushima established three treaty ports on Korea's southern coast, which were then known as waegwan (Japan houses), as enclaves for Japanese envoys and merchants to freely trade at.
The Spanish Empire's plan to conquer China was the catalyst.Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had unified Japan, ordered daimyōs (feudal lords) all over the nation to the conquest of Ming Dynasty China by way of Korea, after the latter's refusal to allow Japanese forces to march through, while King Seonjo alerted its Chinese counterpart regarding the Japanese threat.
[34] It was not until the Tokugawa shogunate started trading again with Korea by concluding the Treaty of Giyu with the Sō clan of Tsushima Island in 1609, establishing a relationship of near equality through mutual visits of Korean messengers.
The newly modernized government of Meiji Japan sought to join these colonizing efforts and the Seikanron ("advocacy of a punitive expedition to Korea") began in 1873.
[37] The debate concerned Korea, then in the sphere of influence of Qing China, which Samurai leaders sought to seize and make it a puppet state.
[38] Those in favor also saw the issue as an opportunity to find meaningful employment for the thousands of out-of-work samurai, who had lost their traditional local governmental roles in the new Meiji political order.
Furthermore, the Japanese financial system was too underdeveloped to support a major war, and its munitions industry was unprepared to handle European technology.
Iwakura Tomomi, the diplomat who had led the mission, persuaded the emperor to reconsider, thus putting an end to the "Korean crisis" debate.
[42] In 1895, Queen Min was gang raped, assassinated, and then burned in public by Japan's military, in retaliation for her efforts to promote Russian influence and resist the Japanese invasion.
Japanese officials increasingly controlled the national government but had little local presence, thereby allowing space for anti-Japanese activism by Korean nationalists.
Kim Il Sung joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1931 and served in the Communist-led Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army.
Kim Il Sung's most famous victory occurred at the Battle of Pochonbo in June 1937, when he led between 150 and 200 Korean and Chinese guerillas on a raid at the border town of Pochon County.
In return, certain Japanese pop culture productions like anime, manga and video games gained significant popularity in South Korea.
Moreover, the PRC, ROK, and Japan have successfully entered the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that was implemented on January 1, 2022.
For example, in late September of 2022, South Korea, the US, and Japan staged joint anti-submarine drills in response to a series of North Korean missile tests.
Thus, when Japanese government leaders pay homage to the deceased at the Yasukuni Shrine, South Koreans see this to symbolize Japan's lack of remorse for its colonization of Korea.
[58] In 2015, relations between the two nations reached a high point when South Korea and Japan addressed the issue of comfort women, used by the Japanese military during World War II.
