제목43권 2호 The effects of ‘apology-backlash’ recurrence on Korea–Japan relations
작성자성희 전조회수60날짜2018/07/16
첨부파일 40483_2016_31_OnlinePDF.pdf

Abstract

Even with the Comfort Women Agreement in 2015, not much seems to have improved. The victims are still requesting for a sincere apology of the Japanese Prime Minister, where Abe is not at all considering. Why are the victims again demanding another sincere apology even after numerous previous apologies? Why has this apology problem repeated for over 20 years despite tremendous efforts by both governments? By raising the question ‘what are the mechanisms for Japanese political apologies and backlashes?’ the paper aims to explain motivations for both apology and backlash. The significance of this paper is in its combination of two key concepts, apology and backlash, into a single framework and its explanation on Korea–Japan relations accordingly. Unlike previous literatures that stressed the importance of sincere apology for reconciliation between the two, this paper aims to show that such an argument rather blurs the comprehensive approach towards the apology problem. The arguments of the paper are twofold. First, the act of Japanese apology and backlash is not a result of sincere remorse of the past, but a result of inter/intra party competition for future political benefits. Second, despite the significance of apology in achieving stable reconciliation, it is unlikely that Japan will choose to express another apology.

Keywords

Apology Political backlash Apology-backlash mechanism Inter-party politics Intra-party politics40483_2016_31_OnlinePDF

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