October 24, 2019

The worsening of Japan-South Korea relations is making daily headlines in the media. The situation is fraught with uncertainty, what with the South Korean Supreme Court’s decision on former requisitioned workers from the Korean Peninsula and South Korea’s vehement reaction to the Japanese government’s decision to remove South Korea from the so-called “white list”, i.e. the list of trusted trade partners under its export control regime.
　
What is worrisome is how all this may affect the citizen-to-citizen exchanges between Japan and South Korea. Already some municipalities are beginning to suspend exchange events scheduled for this year. But can we just sit back and let the situation turn for the worse?
　
In grassroots exchange, 19 Japanese prefectures and 143 Japanese municipalities have sister prefecture/city arrangements with their South Korean counterparts as of August 2019. The first sister city arrangement was entered into between Hagi City in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Ulsan City in 1968. For more than half a century since then, such exchanges have evolved continuously.

Given the geographical proximity, there have been active sport exchanges between Japan and South Korea. In my own estimate, several hundreds of thousands of youths have probably taken part in such exchanges.
　
In sister city exchanges, it has often been the case that municipalities and their inhabitants as a whole engage in exchanges with their counterparts, for example, through arranging home stays, thus building relations that are akin to extended families.
　
These ties are firmly rooted in the localities concerned and have the resilience that cannot be swept away by diplomatic conflicts.
　
There are a number of problems to be tackled in Japan-South Korea relations, such as the visit to Yasukuni Shrine by the Prime Minister and others, Takeshima, and the comfort women. Each time a major challenge was encountered, grassroots exchanges managed to overcome it and keep going. This was largely thanks to the efforts of numerous people across generations.
　
Citizen-to-citizen exchanges tend to take place quietly and without fanfare, but play a crucial role in providing the foundation for bilateral relations between countries.
　
As the surge of anti-Japanese or anti-Korean sentiments tends to dominate the public in South Korea or Japan, we should remind ourselves that there are hundreds of thousands of people in either country who, with friends they can trust in the other country, understand and talk about the importance of grassroots exchanges on the basis of their own experiences.
　
It is highly signify that these people can think about the Japan-South Korea relations from a balanced and thoughtful perspective. Diplomacy is prone to be affected by the prevailing tide of the time, but it can have resilience thanks to the mutual understanding and trust garnered at these grassroots levels.
　
Confronted with adverse circumstances today, some people and municipalities who have been involved in grassroots exchanges may think twice and make the painful decision to suspend such exchanges. However, mutual trust garnered through grassroots exchanged do not collapse easily.

What is important is never to extinguish the flame of exchanges. It is also important to demonstrate objectively to those who might be easily swayed by emotions the fruits borne through Japan-South Korea exchanges to seek their understanding. Thus we should make a dispassionate appeal to our societies on how valuable and beneficial these exchanges are.
　
We would like our government to re-emphasize that non-governmental exchanges, with a value of their own as distinguished from diplomacy, play an even more important role at times like this. Such a gesture will greatly encourage those people who have supported grassroots exchanges not just in Japan but also in South Korea, and will be highly significant as we try to assess objectively the multiple aspects of the Japan-South Korea relationship and think about its future.

Toshihiro Menju is Managing , Japan Center for International Exchange. This article appeared in the September 10 edition of Yomiuri Shimbun.

2019年 10月 24日

日韓関係の悪化が連日、メディアでとりあげられている。元徴用工を巡る韓国最高裁の判決、日本政府の「ホワイト国」からの除外決定への韓国側の猛反発など、状況は予断を許さない。

心配されるのは、日韓の市民交流への影響である。国民感情の悪化を懸念して今年の交流行事の中止を決める自治体が出始めている。だが、このまま関係が悪化していくのを見過ごしていてよいのだろうか。

草の根の交流でみると、日本と韓国との間では今年８月現在、１９の都道県と１４３の自治体が姉妹都市提携を結んでいる。日韓の最初の姉妹都市は１９６８年の山口県萩市と蔚山（ウルサン）市との間の締結からであり、半世紀を超えて連綿と交流が行われてきた。

距離の近い日韓の間では青少年交流、スポーツ交流も盛んに行われ、私の推計では数十万人がそうした交流に参加したと考えられる。

姉妹都市交流では、自治体と住民が一体となって相手地域と交流する。相互にホームステイをしあうことで、地域ぐるみでの親戚づきあいのような関係を築いてきた。

こうした交流は外交上の対立で消えるような脆弱（ぜいじゃく）なものではなく、まさに地域に根を張った強さをもっている。

日韓の間には首相らの靖国神社参拝問題、竹島問題、慰安婦問題などもあるが、大きな試練が起きる度に草の根の交流はそれを乗り越え、続けられてきた。それは、世代を超えた数多くの人々の努力による。

市民同士の交流は地味ではあるが、２国間関係の土台ともいえる極めて重要なものだ。

ややもすると感情的な反日、反韓一色に染まりがちな中、相手国に信頼できる友を持ち、交流の重要性を体験を通して理解し、語ることができる人々が両国に数十万人存在するということに注目したい。

冷静な態度で両国の関係を考えられる彼らの存在意義は大きい。外交は時代ごとに大きな波に翻弄（ほんろう）されがちだが、それが「復元力」を持つのは、こうした草の根の相互理解、信頼関係があるからに他ならない。

今回のような厳しい状況の中、交流に携わってきた人々、自治体の中には、一時的な交流の中断という苦渋の決断をするケースもあるだろう。だが、草の根レベルの相互の信頼関係は崩れないものだ。

重要なのは、決して交流の根を絶やさないこと、そして感情に左右されがちな一部の人たちに、日韓交流によってどのような成果が生まれてきたのかを客観的に提示し、理解を求めることだろう。日韓交流の価値、利益を相互の社会に冷静に問いかけることだろう。

政府としても、外交と民間交流は別の価値を持つものであり、こうした時期だからこそ、民間交流の重要性が増すことを改めて強調してほしい。それは日本のみならず韓国側で草の根交流を支えてきた人たちにも大きな励ましとなり、客観的、複層的に日韓関係をとらえ、その将来を考える上でも意義がある。


筆者は日本国際交流センター執行理事。本記事は２０１９年9月10日付読売新聞に掲載された。