This paper analyzes the structural limitations of the 1965 system and identifies the root causes of conflict, particularly concerning historical and diplomatic-security issues. The year 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan, established on June 22, 1965. This milestone highlights the historical limitations of the so-called “incomplete 1965 system.” The 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations laid the institutional foundation for political and economic cooperation. However, it left several key issues unresolved, such as Japan’s legal responsibility for colonial rule, the comfort women, forced labor, and the Dokdo—issues that have persisted as structural sources of conflict.
Although the 1998 Kim Dae jung–Obuchi Partnership Declaration broadened the scope of cultural and economic cooperation, structural tensions reemerged, especially following the 2018 South Korean Supreme Court ruling on forced labor compensation, Japan’s subsequent export restrictions, and the dispute over Korea’s termination of GSOMIA. These conflicts reflect underlying institutional and identity-based ambiguities that perpetuate recurring tensions.
Historical disputes, in particular, have evolved into multidimensional international issues, fueled by Japan’s conservative right wing strategy of “history wars” and China’s assertive historical diplomacy in Northeast Asia. In the realm of diplomacy and security, the two countries’ differing approaches toward North Korea and China have persisted, with cooperation and conflict fluctuating based on shifts in South Korea’s political leadership. These dynamics constrain trust-building and undermine the stability of bilateral cooperation, especially amid the growing uncertainty of the Northeast Asian security environment and the intensifying U.S.-China strategic rivalry.
이기태 ,"한일 국교정상화 60주년과 한일관계의 과제 극복," 『국제정치논총』제65집 제3호(2025), pp.227~256.
https://doi.org/10.14731/kjir.2025.09.65.3.227
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