korean unification studies

Yasuo Fukuda and Taro Aso, vying for leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and certain election to the Prime Ministership, have expressed their views on Korea during a visit to Osaka.

Both candidates will seek to resolve the abduction issue, and recognize the importance of this to the Japanese voting public.

However, true to their colors, Fukuda will seek to resolve the issue through closer cooperation with its Asian neighbors, while Aso will seek to resolve the issue through maintenance of a hard line policy on North Korea.

Pundits have put forward Fukuda as the likely successor to Shinzo Abe. Fukuda’s views on Korea are not as clear as those of Taro Aso. As a former Government spokesperson and Chief Cabinet Secretary, Fukuda spoke on behalf of the Government, not on behalf of his person. For this reason, his views are often confused with the Government he represented.

However, one thing that is clear about Fukuda is his preference for actively pursuing dialogue to resolve international disputes. Fukuda in his speech on Monday reiterated the need for dialogue with North Korea. Indeed, his record demonstrates this, given his responsibility for arranging the historical trip of Junichiro Koizumi to North Korea for normalization talks in September 2002. 

Perhaps most importantly, there will be no impediments to dialogue given the likely tainted atmosphere that would result from Aso’s past and potential future visits to Yakasuni. In the following days a clearer picture of Fukuda and his openness to Korean unification should appear in the regional press. Keep your eyes open!

Read more on the leadership race at I, Shingen.