Japanese-Korean Relations

Japanese-Korean Relations

In a modern context, Japan–Korea relations pertain to three states: Japan, North Korea, and South Korea. Japan and Korea have had cultural interactions for over a thousand years and direct political contact almost as long. In modern times Japan’s relations with North and South Korea have had a legacy of bitterness stemming from unresolved issues relating to Imperial Japan’s rule of Korea from 1910–1945.

Diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea were established in 1965. In the early 2000s, the Japanese–South Korean relationship soured when the Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine. Conflict continues over claims to the Liancourt Rocks, a group of small islets halfway between the two countries.

Bilaterally and through the Six-Party Talks, North Korea and Japan continue to discuss Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s, although there are no diplomatic relations.