“Trust” is much touted in diplomatic speeches. But at the frontlines of diplomacy, questioning the real intentions of others is a constant part of the work, even among friendly neighbours and close allies. So it is not surprising that, as was recently revealed, the United States has not given up its habit of secretly wiretapping many of its allies, including South Korea. The safe bet would be to assume that all governments with the ability to wiretap must be doing so—not that that makes it right.
In South Korea, the revelation of American wiretapping has added fuel to fiery partisan politics. The government says that trust in the United States remains intact. The opposition rightly notes that the spying constitutes a serious breach of trust. Some go further to say that the alliance has been undermined. They exaggerate, but not without grounds, as the drop in the government’s public-approval rating upon the revelation indicates.
The saga comes on the heels of widespread criticism of the government in another case, this one regarding South Korea’s relationship with Japan. The government in Seoul drew fire in March when it decided to abandon the core elements of a ruling by the Supreme Court that had awarded individual reparations to Korean victims of forced labour committed by Japan during its imperial past. Having ceded to Japan on the issue and received nothing in return, the government is hard-pressed to shore up public confidence on the foreign-policy front.
The South Korea-US security alliance turns 70 years old this year. There will be much pomp around the anniversary when the South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, holds a summit with President Joe Biden in Washington, DC on April 26th. The meeting is the centrepiece of the first state visit to America by an Asian leader since Mr Biden took office. The wiretapping scandal will be papered over as the two presidents go to great lengths to demonstrate mutual trust, particularly on security, while tricky issues such as the fallout from the protectionist trade policies of the Biden administration pull the other way.
South Korea has transformed itself from a war-torn, poverty-stricken country into a liberal democracy and the world’s tenth-largest economy, widely envied for its technological prowess, thanks in part to the security provided by the alliance. In turn, befitting its growing economic and military might, it has gone from a wholly dependent beneficiary to a capable partner of the United States.
Democracy is vibrant and even cantankerous in South Korea, and the public is demanding and vocal. Much more so than in Japan or other security allies of the United States in Asia, civil society is active and freedom of expression untempered, keeping the government constantly on its toes. The same spirit of unmitigated freedom is also creating cultural fare that has taken the world by storm—most strikingly, the K-pop phenomenon.
This has bolstered the confidence of the younger generation of Koreans not to take things as given. That confidence and South Korea’s growing soft and hard power must be harnessed if the alliance with America is to remain strong. But this has to be more than just about strengthening the alliance. With astute strategy and agility, South Korea can and needs to be a more assertive force for peace and human dignity in a fraught world.
The United States, too, has evolved, from being the pre-eminent leader of the West during the Cold War, to the unipolar power in the post-Cold-War era that then squandered much of its clout and moral standing with hubris, to its present state as a superpower coming to grips with the rise of a serious contender. The deepening US-China rivalry now preoccupies foreign-policy thinkers and decision-makers everywhere.
The majority of South Koreans are still firmly behind the alliance with America. But there is plenty of division, and its opponents are vociferous. Putting Japan into the mix invariably stirs up resentment. The recent strengthening of the US-South Korea-Japan trilateral security co-operation is needed, as North Korea has stepped up its provocations. But anything to do with military muscle-flexing must pay attention to the still-vivid collective memory of Koreans of Japan as a brutal coloniser and aggressor. Any talk of “alliance” with Japan that ignores this deep undercurrent of public sentiment is naive and irresponsible.
The United States has largely sat by in Japan’s refusal to fully own up to its past. The current generation of political leaders in Japan seems bent on historical revisionism, reluctant or unable to genuinely apologise. Methodically erasing traces of the country’s past atrocities against Korea, they continue to deepen the pain of the surviving victims and the sense of injustice among the Korean public. As long as this continues, trust between Korea and Japan will remain fragile at best. It also hampers Japan’s evolution as a mature democracy and responsible global leader. The recent move by the South Korean government to hollow out the Supreme Court decision has unfortunately played into this pattern.
This is regrettable. As immediate neighbours and democracies with many shared values and cultural codes, South Korea and Japan have huge potential for co-operation. That potential remains weighed down by history. The weight will be lifted when Japan fully and honestly comes to terms with its past. That will give a real, lasting boost to trust between the two neighbours and in Asia as a whole, which can only be good for the United States—and for peace and prosperity in the region.
Kang Kyung-wha was foreign minister of South Korea from 2017 to 2021.
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Updated: 30 Jun 2023, 05:00 PM IST