After an escalation of tension between Japan and South Korea on issues stemming from history, the good news now is that the South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, has struck a conciliatory note towards his country’s dispute with Japan, expressing the hope that the two big economies of Asia could cooperate to mend fences. In a nationally televised speech on the 74th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, which ended Korea’s colonial subjugation, Moon offered an olive branch to Japan and urged Japan to contemplate its wartime past and offered to engage in talks to heal the strained ties.

While has Japan pledged never to repeat the horrors of war, Moon’s toning down of his recent harsh rhetoric towards Japan is a welcome development for the region that seemed headed towards a new trade war, one that can complicate the security in the region in the wake of the new missile launches by North Korea. It bears recall that relations between Japan and South Korea nosedived to their lowest ebb over the past two months since they normalised ties in 1965, strained over the issue of South Korean forced labour during World War II and a bitter trade row.

Moon downplayed the threat posed by North Korea’s recent short-range ballistic launches and expressed the hope that Washington and Pyongyang would soon resume nuclear negotiations. He also offered to “gladly join hands” if Tokyo wants to talk. Moon urged Tokyo to stop using trade as a weapon to address historical grievances that have poisoned ties between the allies for decades and which alarmed Washington. Last year, South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered two Japanese companies to pay reparations for forced labour during the colonial era.

The ruling enraged Japan, which said all claims were settled when it provided South Korea with $500 million in free aid and cheap loans as part of a deal to establish diplomatic ties in 1965. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe criticised South Korea for “violating the international treaty” and felt that no apology or atonement from Japan will ever satisfy South Koreans. But Seoul contended that the 1965 deal did not cover the right of individual victims to seek redress for brutal colonial practices like using Korean women and men, including teenagers, for sexual slavery or forced labour. It insists that Japan has never sincerely atoned for ~ and instead has tried to whitewash ~ its brutalities.

In a retaliatory, move Japan removed South Korea from its list of preferential trading partners and tightened controls on the export of three chemicals essential to making the semi-conductors and flat-panel displays that South Korean companies sell around the world, including Apple iPhones. South Korea reacted by downgrading Japan’s trade status. In order to arrest deteriorating ties, Moon urged Japan not to disrupt “highly sophisticated division of labour” that has allowed both nations to prosper. What was the import of Moon’s speech? It clearly underlined the fact that during the period after World War II, South Korea nurtured an export-driven economy, first by imitating Japanese products and eventually dominating industries once led by Japan, like memory chips and flat-panel displays.

The truism is that South Korea still relies on high-tech machinery, components and materials from Japan to produce its export items. What Moon was concerned about was that the peaceful free-trade order will inevitably suffer because of Japanese measures. Moon’s speech was clearly an attempt to tamp down a festering dispute that threatened to derail both nations’ economies. It is desirable that Tokyo responds to Moon’s gestures to restore normalcy so that relations are back to normal.

When leaders in both the countries indulged in nationalistic sentiments, even Washington found it difficult to intervene in the emotionally charged bickering between its two Asian allies. While Tokyo snubbed calls for dialogue, Moon vowed that his country “will never again lose to Japan”. Moon’s latest speech however was devoid of such rhetoric and blunt language, implying that he realised the damage that both countries would suffer if the tensions are allowed to continue. Which is why he spoke of a “cooperative order in East Asia”. Moon was equally concerned about the series of ballistic missiles and projectiles capable of hitting much of South Korea that North Korea fired within weeks.

China was also angry that Moon allowed the US to deploy a missile defence system at its doorstep. When in July this year a Russian military plane intruded into South Korean airspace for the first time since the 1950-53 Korean War, prompting South Korean fighter jets to fire warning shots, Moon realised that the security situation is getting complicated and corrective measures were needed to keep Japan-South Korea ties in balance. Moon also probably understood the implications of the shuttle warning by Trump that if Japan-South Korea disputes are not sorted out between the two without outside mediation, the three nations’ cooperation (Japan, South Korea and the US) could be derailed and military threats from North Korea and China would increase.

It is desirable that Japan responds to Moon’s peace overtures and works to keep bilateral ties in order. Moon has the support of the people as South Koreans rallied behind him. Gas stations in South Korea put up signs saying Japanese cars are unwelcome. Yet, it is possible that Moon realised both the countries are locked in “a game with no winners” and that the emotional overtone should not be allowed to cloud diplomacy. Probably Abe also realised the same, which is why he approved the shipment of key high-tech materials to South Korea, which could help ease the tension.

First Japan took measures, followed by counter-measures by South Korea. So, the titfor- tit trade restrictions became even. Therefore, the time was appropriate to talk. Such perceptions could be behind Moon’s peace overtures. Abe sent a ritual monetary offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for the war dead in Tokyo. He did not visit the place in person, an act which would have sparked a strong reaction from Seoul. While speaking at a ceremony honouring the war dead, Abe pledged never to repeat the devastation of war. South Korea’s foreign ministry expressed “deep concern” over Abe sending the offering to a shrine that “beautifies Japan’s colonial pillage and aggressive war”. Striking a balance between emotion and diplomacy is therefore the biggest challenge for both Tokyo and Seoul. (To be concluded)

(The writer is former ICCR Chair Professor at Reitaku University, Japan, and currently Lok Sabha Research Fellow)