This is something we are going to have to learn to live with.
V/R
Dave
Tensions Between Japan and South Korea Complicate Picture for U.S.
Published: December 20, 2012
SEOUL, South Korea — The sighs of relief in Washington have almost been audible. As the United States forges ahead with efforts to counter China’s influence in Asia, Japan and South Korea this week both elected conservative, pro-American leaders, raising hopes that the United States and its two closest Asian allies can work together on the vexing security issues roiling this economically vibrant region.
All those issues, that is, except one: Tokyo and Seoul’s emotionally charged relations with each other, which few analysts expect to ease under right-wing, nationalistic governments.
The tensions between its two closest partners in the region have already proved a headache for the United States, which has been pressing the two export powerhouses to take a bigger role in regional security to ease its own budgetary pressures. But the neighbors remain hamstrung by history, and even a relatively small deal on intelligence sharing unraveled this summer amid a dispute over how to view Japan’s harsh colonization of the Korean Peninsula before World War II.
“The U.S. might think it’s great to have two conservative governments, but these are two allies that can’t even sign a minor agreement,” said Daniel C. Sneider, a researcher on East Asian diplomacy at Stanford University.
The question, then, is whether the United States can effectively deal with China’s rise if the allies, who host about 75,000 American troops and sailors, find it so hard to work with each other.
(Continued at the link below)
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