For many Japanese, Korean history—including the history of South Korean ties to the outside world—is viewed through the lens of the country’s modern relations with Japan. Whether looking at the ups and downs of diplomacy, the competition for the favor of US administrations, or the prospect of cooperation on regionalism, Japanese often seem preoccupied with how they interpret South Korean ties to their own country through an historical prism. Unfortunately, this view regularly defaults to a position of “we did good things for ‘them’ too.” This is the case even after announcement at the end of 2015 of an agreement concerning the issue of “comfort women,” wartime Japan’s militarized sexual slavery, which aimed to put this issue behind Tokyo and Seoul for improved political ties.

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