한일 과거사 갈등의 구조와 해법 모색

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the occurrence mechanism of bilateral historical relations disputes between Korea and Japan. There were two times when the “history disputes” took place between the two countries since the end of the cold war. In the cases of mid-1990s’ disputes on bilateral history, interactions among the international level, the Japanese domestic level and the Korean domestic level were important factors. Sources of conflicts can be identified as follows: (1)decrease of incentives for the cooperations between two nations as the cold war expired at international level, (2)divided opinions of the views of history at Japan’s domestic level, and (3)strong nationalistic sentiments and policy toward Japan in Korea’s domestic politics level. In 2005, however, the disputes on bilateral history between the two nations were derived from the Dokdo-Takeshima island, the history textbook disputes in Japan, and the Prime Minister’s visit to the Yasukuni shrine. They were escalated by the carelessness and ignorance of Japanese government as well as by the strong reactions of the Korean government. It might be difficult to solve the disputes on bilateral historical relations completely in short term period. In that case, we need to decrease possibility of the conflict occurrences to lessen the bad effects. Therefore, it means “management” of the conflicts on bilateral historical relations, if not the solution. In order to manage rationally the so-called “history conflicts”, mutual confidence and the profound strategic dialogue between the leaders of two nations are vitally needed.