KJC Korea
Journal Central

The perception that Japan is alienated from the peace process on the Korean Peninsula can serve as a major obstacle since it limits the role and consensus formation capability that Japan can contribute to. This paper focused on the essential problem that Japan’s role in the peace process of the Korean Peninsula is limited or marginalized while it is a major partner of the process. In addition, the paper tried to answer the puzzle through analyzing Japan’s perception of the Korean Peninsula and limitations and dilemmas of its policy toward North Korea. Japan’s policy toward North Korea, based on its maximal pressure strategy, has been a stumbling block to its flexibility in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. It has also used a parallel strategy of dialogue and pressure, but superficial measures such as easing the terms of the talks without changing the policy have failed to make the North Korea back to the table.

This study examines the meaning of Tsushima Domain’s dispatch of Saihan(Tsushima Domain’s director for Diplomatic Negotiations) separately in addition to Kanshu(the head of Waegwan) in negotiations with Joseon by analyzing the prior discussion and actual aspects of Oiljabmul(relief supplies) negotiation in 1736. There are two main effects of dispatch of Saihan. First, Saihan could draw cooperation from the Dongnaebu side. When Saihan was dispatched, Dongnaebu actively cooperated to return Saihan quickly to Tsushima. Next, Saihan could enable the Joseon Dynasty take action. When the Joseon government received a report on the dispatch of Saihan, they recognized that Tsushima Domain was putting emphasis on the negotiations. Through this recognition, the negotiations could be concluded quickly. These effects could not be expected from Kanshu, a resident of Waegwan. In the mid-18th century, Saihan could effectively lead negotiations with Joseon by the “position itself” rather than “who is appointed”.

This paper examines the intersection of Science fiction(SF) imagination and Cold War (un)consciousness in the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on Sakyo Komatsu’s Nihon Apache-zoku(1964), which is said to be Japan’s first fullfledged SF novel. Komatsu Sakyo’s Nihon Apache-zoku depicts the civil war and division of Japan. It is a work inspired by the “Apache tribe(Apachezoku)” that appeared in Osaka in the late 1950s and built a SF imagination. The “Apache-zoku” were a group of Zainichi Koreans who made a living by infiltrating the abandoned Osaka Artillery Arsenal and selling buried scrap iron. In the late 1950s, Zainichi Koreans could make a living selling scrap iron because of the special demand from the Korean War. In this novel, Komatsu satirizes Japanese society by portraying another “postwar Japan” imagined as an alternative future for “the ruins,” and the description of Apache-zoku involves a number of Cold War rhetorics. However, unlike the paranoid anxiety that dominated the U.S. and South Korea during the Cold War, the work maintains a humorous tone throughout. This indicates that Japan was in a safe zone where a sense of distance from raw violence caused by the Cold War was secured.

The ODA as a diplomatic policy tool in Japan is more important than the other countries. Nevertheless, the academic interests in Japanese ODA are mainly focused on the commercial character of Japanese ODA. This paper aims to explore the complex nature of Japanese ODA. Specifically, this paper tried to find out how ‘human security’ and ‘peace building’ were discussed as international norms, internalized in Japan, and used in terms of national interest. As a result of the study, it was found that Japan’s ODA is going through a process of preemptively identifying the norms of the international community and internalizing them to conform to its interests. Furthermore, it was utilized for national interests, such as the concentration of ODA in the Indo-Pacific region, transfer of equipment for the Self-Defense Forces to ensure maritime security, and expansion of overseas dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces with ODA. These cases imply that in understanding Japan’s diplomatic strategy in the future, it is necessary to understand it primarily in the international context rather than limiting it to bilateral or regional issues.

This paper aims to provide an understanding of the development process by reviewing the oral and testament studies of Japanese military Comfort Women victims for about 30 years since Kim Hak-soon’s public testimony in 1991. The subjects of the review are the reports on research projects related to oral and testament of Comfort Women victims by the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the testimony books produced by various actors. As a result of the review, the oral and testament researches of Comfort Women victims have achieved the following results due to the courage of the victims who broke the silence and the passion and dedication of the investigative researchers. First, it provides basic data to understand not only the trauma of Comfort Women but also the their lives after returning country. Second, it makes us understanding that the victims did not have an individualized and stereotyped image of victimization, but rather communicated with local residents as subjects with individual personalities, gaining social recognition, and establishing relationships with the local community. Third, through the publication of testimonial books and the digitization of testimony materials, the primary data of oral and testimonial have been accumulated considerably. It is a valuable resource that will contribute to the restoration and open interpretation of the life of the witness that was conceived in the original testimonies. Meanwhile, challenges remain. First, in order to achieve one-off events such as Independence Day, and Memorial Day, oral and testimonial research has been conceived and promoted in a short period of time. We should allow research to accumulate in the long term rather than a one-off project. The second is the firmness of the impact of the formalization of the victim and the claim of forced arrest by physical force. This Firmness can be a constraint on various oral and testament studies. Now, the victim statements and testimonies have reached a level where they can be assessed as comprehensive. In order to deepen oral and testimony research, the results of the reports on research projects by the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family which is currently closed to the public, should be made public.