Issue Unresolved history disputes constrain a future-oriented Korea-Japan relationship

Summary

Korea and Japan normalized relations with the Basic Treaty of June 1965 and marked the sixtieth anniversary in 2025. Over those decades, sharing liberal democracy and a market economy, they developed active exchange and cooperation in politics, the economy, society and culture. Yet disputes over comfort women and forced labor victims of the colonial period, visits by Japanese officials to Yasukuni Shrine and sovereignty over Dokdo remain unresolved and weigh on cooperation in other fields. The report therefore focuses on a future-oriented relationship, a discourse that seeks to move beyond a situation in which the two countries are mired in history and cannot advance their many cooperative agendas. It pursues this vision through a long-term view to 2050 and a comprehensive analysis of each field, taking into account the changing environment around the relationship.