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Abstract

The 35-years-long Japanese colonial period left a century-long wound onthe South Korean-Japanese relations. It took two decades from the end ofWorld War II to re-establish basic diplomatic relations, then it took more longdecades to initiate a gradual approach. Even seventy years after the end ofWorld War II, relations between the two countries are so unstable and fragile that this slow progress can be easily wiped out by a new conflict causedby a single thoughtless statement. Preserving this situation and this vulnerability is partly artificially generated as some political actors gain benefitsfrom the legitimating power of nationalism and they use the media to achievethis goal. Due to the fact that politics is the only segment with an insignificant progress between the two countries in the last decade, it is an odd-oneout in the South Korean-Japanese relations, if we compare it to the development of economic or cultural cooperation. However, this intriguing circumstance can be overwritten by two changing factors. The first but slower oneis the change of generations; however, in this case media and its influencing capacity shouldnot be forgotten. The other, much faster and more efficient factor is, as far as it serves state interests, mediation and lobby from theUnited States, which has just recently shown its real significance on this topic.