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Japan's new laws raise Asia's security concerns

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Activists bow before the remains of 115 Koreans who died after being taken to Japan and forced into slave labor during the 1940s during a memorial ceremony to mark their posthumous repatriation into a cemetery in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. / Yonhap
Activists bow before the remains of 115 Koreans who died after being taken to Japan and forced into slave labor during the 1940s during a memorial ceremony to mark their posthumous repatriation into a cemetery in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. / Yonhap

Seoul's diplomacy put to test over Tokyo's military expansion


By Yi Whan-woo

Japan's new laws that allow its military to fight abroad have stoked security concerns in neighboring nations, with Seoul warning that Tokyo's forces won't be allowed on the Korean Peninsula without approval.

The removal of limits on Japanese military operations overseas is testing Seoul's diplomacy in the region, as South Korea will have to walk a fine line between China and the United States in order to ensure that Japan does not undermine regional peace and security.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Japan on Saturday "to contribute to regional peace and security" after the upper house of the Japanese Diet passed a set of security bills to allow its troops to fight overseas for the first time since World War II.

Proposed by nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet, ten of the 11 bills are designed to allow Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to defend its allies, mainly the United States, and even launch preemptive attacks against their enemies overseas if necessary. The remaining one is related to international peacekeeping.

"Japan should transparently move forward in deciding and implementing its defense and security policies in line with the spirit of the Pacifist Constitution that has been in place during the postwar era," ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il said during a media briefing in Seoul.

Noh reiterated South Korea's stance that the SDF will not enter the Korean Peninsula unless the government requests or agrees to allow them to do so.

The U.S.-imposed Constitution originally put geographic restrictions on where the SDF can operate.

And the approval of the controversial legislation is the centerpiece of Tokyo's steps to bolster the U.S.-Japan security alliance amid China's growing military assertiveness plus North Korea's cycle of military provocations and threats in the region.

Washington has sought to cut its defense budgets and expects Japan to replace its roles to some extent.

Members of the National Assembly denounced Japan.

"The passage of the bills is seen as an attempt by the Abe government to seize hegemony in East Asia," ruling Saenuri Party spokesman Rep. Lee Jang-woo said. "I'm concerned that Japan may revert to militarism."

Lee referred to the fact that Japan invaded the Korean Peninsula and Chinese Manchuria during the colonial era and that its imperial Army exploited the people and resources there.

"We should enhance our capabilities for national defense in preparation for possible conflicts with Japan in the future," he added.

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy said, "The Pacifist Constitution was destroyed and the conscience of Japan was trampled to dust under a hegemonic ideology to re-build a strong Japan."

"We strongly condemn the Abe government's relentless push for militarization," the party spokesman Rep. Kim Yung-rok said.

Kim asked President Park Geun-hye to express her opinion "as clearly as possible" over Japan's "steps toward militarization."

Seoul repeatedly expressed concerns over Japan's shift from pacifist policies when Abe's Cabinet reinterpreted the country's Constitution in July 2014, when Washington and Tokyo overhauled their 1997 defense guidelines in April, and when the Diet's lower house endorsed the bills and passed them on to the upper house for approval in July.

North Korea and China also voiced their concerns, Saturday.

"We'll not remain silent and bolster our efforts to prevent possible wars involving us," said Pyongyang's foreign ministry in a statement.

China said, "Japan's shift in its security policies goes is completely going against the present era of peace and mutual cooperation."

But U.S. and the Philippines, which have been increasingly involved in territorial disputes with China, welcomed the passage of the bills.

Meanwhile, the Japanese defense ministry has taken steps to expand the SDF's use of arms in South Sudan, NHK reported, Sunday.

The Tokyo-based broadcaster said the government is considering allowing its troops on U.N. peacekeeping missions operations to carry out armed-escort services for the allied troops and civilians on their requests. The SDF was previously banned from participating in such operations.





Yi Whan-woo yistory@koreatimes.co.kr


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