Unraveling the Japan-South Korea “Virtual Alliance”: Populism and Historical Revisionism in the Face of Conflicting Regional Strategies

Abstract

Domestic politics combined with strategic repositioning toward the U.S. set back ties between Japan and South Korea in 2004–05. Despite the North Korean nuclear crisis and the challenge of shifting great power relations in Asia, as well as closer economic and cultural bilateral ties, politicized forces are pulling the two countries apart.