Japan Regrets Roh's Belated Remarks Ban Slams Japan Education Minister's Dokdo Demands Korea-Japan War of 'Regrets' Heats Up Korea Takes 'Diplomatic War' With Japan to U.N. Without Asia's Trust, Japan Will Remain a Political Pygmy

Diplomatic principles seem to have been thrown out the window, and closed discussions between national leaders are now fair game. Leaving aside concrete bones of contention such as Japanese claims to Korea's Dokdo Islets and distortions of history in the Japan's textbooks, observers say the national strategies of the two nations have started to part ways.

Tensions between Seoul and Tokyo over Japan's history textbooks are nothing new, but they have always been played out against a background of a fundamental "friendship." But with President Roh Moo-hyun's call for Korea to play a balancing role in Northeast Asia -- away from the two camps of the the U.S. and Japan on the one hand and North Korea-China-Russia on the other -- changed all that.

It is becoming clear that Roh was primarily aiming at Japan when he repositioned the nation, indicating that Korea cannot be relied on in any hegemonic standoff between China and Japan to take Tokyo's side. If the line consolidates it would bring a seismic shift in ties.

Nor is Japan treating Korea as it used to. Time was when it resigned itself to Korean attacks over its troubled history or the Dokdo Islets. But recently Japan has been fighting back. Foreign Minister Machimura's direct attack on President Roh on Wednesday, or bipartisan support in the Diet for the "protection of Japanese territory" -- Dokdo -- can be seen in this light.

"It's still more of a conflict between the two nations' leaderships rather than a clash between peoples," said Prof. Kim Tae-hyo of Sungkyunkwan University. "But if the estrangement deepens, it could change the structure of a bilateral relationship based on friendship and cooperation." According to a survey by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI), 72.2 percent of respondents said they support President Roh's recent tough rhetoric against Japan. According to a Cheong Wa Dae survey, the president's approval rating has increased to 38.4 percent. Meanwhile, Japanese society, too, continues to drift to the right.

Coverage of the Roh administration's "New Security Initiative" has taken a back seat to the Dokdo and textbook issues in Japan. But Japanese experts are taking it seriously. "The Korean government is reconsidering its [traditional] foreign policy based on Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation, and that presents Japan with problems it cannot overlook," the Yomiuri Shimbun commented.

Hideshi Takesada, a Korea expert in the Japan Defense Agency's National Institute for Defense Studies said, "In order to become a balancer in East Asia, Korea must have a similar level of national power to the U.S. or China" to make itself heard. But he said since Korea is neither a nuclear power nor a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, it lacked the power to sit China and the U.S. down in order to relay to them Korea's position.

He said since China or North Korea might read Korea's pretension to becoming a 'balancer' in East Asia as cosying up to them in an effort to change the power structure of the region, the new doctrine was in fact an insecurity factor in Northeast Asia.

(englishnews@chosun.com )