Symbolic politics, the history problem, and the Japan-South Korea security relationship during the post-Cold War period

Many scholars have debated over the variables that determine the Japan-South Korea security relationship. Despite the fact that the two countries share all the favorable conditions, including being loyal allies of the U.S. and sharing the common threat of North Korea, they have displayed weak security cooperation. This dissertation aims to solve this empirical puzzle using a multi-method approach, including extensive news article analysis, face-to-face interviews, and process-tracing. Based on empirical evidence, this study suggests that the most important variable that has shaped the Japan-South Korea security relationship during the post-Cold War period was the identity conflict between the Japanese conservative elites and the South Korean public. The primary cause of the conflict was the different interpretations of historical events during WWII. Employing the symbolic politics approach, this research also seeks to advance this identity-focused argument by analyzing the causal relationship between national identity and security policymaking in Japan and South Korea. The symbolic politics approach suggests that the political process of how the identities of specific groups affect the policymaking of the country as well as inter-state relationship. The findings challenge previous studies that focus on the external factors in explaining the Japan-South Korea security relationship by providing solid empirical evidence that shows the primacy of national identity.