Session: Session 4
Date/Time: April 27, 2016 / 13:30-15:00

Moderator:
Anna Fifield, The Washington Post

Speakers:
Park Cheol Hee, Seoul National University
Ren Xiao, Fudan University
Scott Snyder, Council on Foreign Relations
Soeya Yoshihide, Keio University

Panel Description
In November 2015, President Park and Prime Minister Abe held their first bilateral meeting in which South Korea and Japan reached a historic settlement regarding the “comfort women” issue that had shackled relations between the countries for decades. This diplomatic breakthrough came at the end of a year in which record numbers of South Koreans visited Japan. In response to North Korea’s nuclear test in January 2016, both countries have vowed to increase security cooperation to contain the North’s nuclear threat. Was the “comfort women” settlement a game changer in the countries’ bilateral relations? Can historical issues ever be resolved? What does the “New Normal” future hold for South Korea-Japan relations?