South Korea and Japan to be at Odds for the Long Haul

An interesting installment in the yarn of a disintegrating global order is the ongoing feud between South Korea and Japan. The story is usually presented as another example of Trump's "America first" sowing chaos among longtime allies, not to be mention the Trump administration's general incompetence. This is no doubt true.

The latest news (see "South Korea Says It Will End Intelligence-Sharing Deal With Japan, Adding to Tensions" by Choe Sang-Hun, Motoko Rich and Edward Wong) is that South Korea has pulled out of an intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan. The agreement was cobbled together by the Obama administration to free the U.S. from having to act as middleman for the two countries when it came to comparing notes on North Korea's ballistic missile program.

The summary of events that led us here is an interesting one:

South Korea’s relations with Japan soured late last year when Mr. Moon’s government took steps to effectively nullify a 2015 agreement his conservative predecessor had reached with Tokyo over the so-called comfort women, Korean women and girls who were forced or lured into brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II. The 2015 deal was meant to lay that painful issue to rest, and Japan accused Mr. Moon of tearing the wounds open again.

Matters worsened when South Korea’s highest court ruled that Korean victims of forced labor under colonial rule could seek compensation from Japanese companies. In recent weeks, the discord over historical issues began bleeding into the countries’ trade ties.

Japan removed South Korea from its “white list” of most-trusted trading partners and tightened controls on three chemicals needed to make semiconductors and flat-panel displays, which are major South Korean exports. The move was seen as an attack on South Korea’s major electronics firms, most notably Samsung and LG, which are pillars of the country’s economy.

Angry South Koreans responded with protests and widespread boycotts of Japanese goods, like the fashion retailer Uniqlo, while Mr. Moon’s government downgraded Japan’s trade status. Lawmakers and protesters demanded that the intelligence-sharing agreement be scrapped.

What is even more interesting is the Trump administration assessment that South Korea-Japan relations won't normalize anytime soon:

American officials are closely watching Mr. Moon’s latest move in the context of domestic politics and attempts to shore up support for him and his party, a senior administration official said. It will be difficult to encourage reinstatement of the intelligence-sharing agreement with the current administrations in Seoul and Tokyo, the official added.