한일 경제협력의 새로운 가능성에 대한 고찰

Abstract

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea in 1965, economic cooperation has been continuing without interruption with the explicit or implicit understanding that the two countries are two-track. Moreover, with Japan's financial cooperation, Korea began export-led industrialization, creating a chronic trade deficit with Japan based on vertical division of labor. However, this 55-year-old structure began to shake in the 2010s. This is because the economic gap between the two countries narrowed and the global value chain including the two countries reorganized. Furthermore, Japan and Korea seem to have little room for economic cooperation in the future, owing to new conflicts arising from export restrictions. However, export restrictions have become a catalyst for strengthening cooperation between companies in the two countries through the path of leaving Japan. There is room for further cooperation if players are limited to inter-company relationships, not to inter-governmental ones. Cooperation in the silver industry, joint entry into third countries, expanding the current manufacturing and vertical division to non-manufacturing and horizontal division of labor, and cooperation on new trade issues will be sufficient topics for Japanese and Korean companies.