East Asia news items

Submitted by soryang on Sat, 04/19/2025 - 12:45pm

Trade issues:

[Editorial] Final say on deals with US should go to an elected administration, not Han

Han needs to adopt a strategy of deferring major decisions to the next president

Editorial: Japan must secure national interests in tariff talks without bowing to US threats

Trump has taken an unusual step of attending a ministerial-level meeting himself, which was apparently aimed at boosting pressure on Japan and pressing for its concessions.

The concern is that Trump has taken an approach of trying to elicit more favorable conditions from Japan by referring to security to sway the country.

Trump suggested shortly before the talks that "the cost of military support," such as the cost for maintaining U.S. forces in Japan, would be part of the agenda. He has previously complained that the U.S. is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to defend Japan but that Japan pays nothing.

Japan hosts U.S. military bases across the country and shoulders massive costs for their presence. Any misperception must quickly be corrected.

Trump will pull the same negotiating strategy with S.Korea, linking the Special Measures Agreement to trade issues. The SMA determines the allocation of defense costs between the US Forces Korea and the Republic of Korea. These involve a dollar reimbursement to the US. In discussing these issues many social and economic costs to host countries like Japan and South Korea are ignored, like the costs of the land, the improvement costs to base facilities, the costs to the host country of providing civil servant and utilities support, infrastructure burdens, law enforcement costs, incident to the US forces stationed in those countries, etc. Bruce Klinger , a conservative security expert was interviewed by VOA last September. He said the following:

“If you take a step back, it’s in our strategic interest to have allies, it’s in our strategic interest to have our forces stationed overseas, because actually, they’re less costly to the United States when they’re stationed overseas than when they’re stationed domestically.

How South Korea’s Political Crisis Could Affect Regional Security By Andrew Yeo

Regarding the US-Japan-Korea trilateral relationship, Lee Jae-myung recently reiterated support for both South Korea-Japan relations and the trilateral relationship with Tokyo and Washington.​2 Representative Wi Sung-lac, a respected former senior diplomat and now a DPK parliamentarian shaping Lee’s foreign-policy thinking, has also consistently voiced support for the trilateral relationship. Despite recent statements, doubt lingers regarding the DPK’s support for the trilateral process due to residual anti-Japan feelings within the core of the party. Not all progressives may be on board with Lee’s rhetorical shift on Japan as reflected in the first impeachment motion filed against Yoon in the National Assembly in early December. Criticizing Yoon’s foreign policy, the motion claimed that Yoon had “ignored the geopolitical balance, antagonized North Korea, China and Russia, insisted on bizarre Japan-centered foreign policies, and appointed figures lenient toward Tokyo to key government positions.” Although those views may not reflect those of all opposition members, certain factions within the DPK seem far less enthusiastic about a South Korea-Japan rapprochement.

Yeo is center right imo. This particular article by him is better than most. I disagree with some things he has omitted from consideration. For example, Yoon's extremism endangered the stability and security in the region militarily by abandoning military restrictions agreed to with North Korea. He was influenced by a prophecy by a shaman that Korea would be unified in 2025. Also, Yeo omits imo some caveats to Lee's willingness to cooperate with Japan. Namely, I believe there are qualifications on this, such that Japan be honest about its history, and that the two states treat each other on the basis of reciprocity and mutual respect. I think that Americans in general and especially the think tankers tend to either not recognize or ignore the Japanese government's disdainful, if not openly contemptuous, attitude and discriminatory treatment toward South Korea and Koreans generally, including its own Korean minority. This is a form of power based status behavior and also just bigotry. I know it isn't universal, it is a characteristic of ruling LDP administrations and the domestic right in Japan.

Kweon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party in South Korea was forced out after he assaulted a reporter who asked questions he didn't like. Things aren't going well for the politicians who supported a dictator in the making. Imagine their frustration.

Han Deok-soo, the acting President of South Korea, until a real president is elected, forwarded the appointment of a Constitutional Court justice, that he and then acting president Choi, had blocked. Han attempted to appoint two additional conservative justices, and the democratic party filed for an injunction on the basis that Han was not an elected president and had no authority to nominate justices on his own. The CC honored the injunction, so now there are seven justices with two seats vacant. Han said he was qualified to negotiate trade deals with the US, while the opposition also disputes this. Han does have a lengthy finance and trade resume, but again the argument is that you are only a caretaker president until the people elect a real president. Han's assertion also seems inconsistent with rumors he was considering running for president himself on an independent conservative ticket. In any event, if he or his team negotiate with the Trump people on trade, they will feel hard pressed to rush an agreement, perhaps with negative results, in order to conclude the matter before the next president is elected, which is likely to be Lee Jae-myung, barring unforeseen circumstances.

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