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Yet Another Lost Decade? Whither Japan's North Korea Policy under Abe Shinzō

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Sebastian Maslow
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The return to power of Abe Shinzō and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) unfolded as tensions on the Korean peninsula mount. As a key advocate of the abduction lobby, Abe's rapid political rise since the early 2000s is closely connected with his role in promoting a hardline policy towards North Korea. Mobilizing a new nationalism in Japan, Abe's return as prime minister in December 2012 signals a rightward shift in Japanese politics. The current international crisis surrounding North Korea offers a critical test for analyzing the trajectory of Abe's foreign and security policy. In addition to joining multilateral United Nations sanctions, the Abe administration has increased the pressure on North Korea through new measures constraining the activities of pro-Pyongyang groups within Japan. Moreover, as Abe has pledged yet again to solve the abduction issue, the kidnapping problem has brought the old anti-DPRK policy network back to the forefront of Japan's North Korea policy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 11 , Issue 15 , April 2013 , e3
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
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Copyright © The Authors 2013

References

Notes

1 For an English translation of the original text of the Pyongyang Declaration see http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/n_korea/pmv0209/pyongyang.html (accessed 5 April 2013).

2 Interview Ishikawa Ichiro, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Tokyo, 21 August 2011. In fact, many of Japan's newspapers have witnessed internal struggles between the society and politics sections over how to cover the summit results, with the society section usually emphasizing the abductions. Moreover, newspaper journalists blame the so-called ‘wide shows’ (i.e. tabloid-style programs) on Japanese TV that have repeatedly focused on the human drama of the abduction cases, thus setting the tone for the national debate and forcing newspapers to emphasize the kidnappings in their front page headlines. See Aoki Osamu. Repo ratchi to hitobito: Sukuukai, kōan keisatsu, chōsen soren (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 2011).

3 As of today, the Japanese government recognizes 17 people that it believes were abducted by North Korea. For a comprehensive list of the abduction victims and accounts of the circumstances of their disappearance see here (accessed 6 April 2013).

4 For a critical analysis of Japan's role in the Six Party Talks see Maaike Okano-Heijmans. “Japan as Spoiler in the Six-Party Talks: SingleIssue Politics and Economic Diplomacy Towards North Korea.” Japan Focus, 21 October 2008.

5 Asger Røjle Christensen (2012). “Japan: Abducted by Its Abduction Saga.” Global Asia, Volume 7, Number 4, pp.116-123

6 For the official Japanese government interpretation of the abduction cases see here (accessed 5 April 2013).

7 Newsweek (Japan), 24 October 2012.

8 The relevant video footage and text of the press statement issued by the Chief Cabinet Secretary can be accessed here (accessed 6 April 2013).

9 The episode is presented in an interview between Hirai Hisashi and Lee Jong Won featured in Sekai (March 2012), p.234.

10 For details on the meeting see here (accessed 5 April 2013) and here (accessed 5 April 2013).

11 For a discussion on the outcomes of the August 2012 meetings see here (accessed 5 April 2013).

12 See the official summary of the August meeting by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (accessed 5 April 2013).

13 See here (accessed 5 April 2013).

14 See here (accessed 5 April 2013).

15 For a summary of the November meeting see here (accessed 5 April 2013) and here (accessed 30 March 2013).

16 The Japan Times quotes unnamed government sources for Noda's effort to hold early talks; see here (accessed 5 April 2013).

17 See here (accessed 5 April 2013).

18 Amy L. Catalinac. “Not Made in China: Japan's Home-Grown National Security Obsession.” East Asia Forum (6 March 2013) (accessed 8 April 2013).

19 See Tessa Morris-Suzuki. “Freedom of Hate Speech; Abe Shinzo and Japan's Public Sphere.” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol.11, Iss.8, No.1, February 25, 2013, available here.

20 See Paul Pierson. Politics in Time: History, Institutions, and Social Analysis (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004).

21 Gerald Curtis. “Can Japanese Politics be Saved?” East Asia Forum (13 November 2012) (accessed 8 April 2013).

22 For the results of the December 2012 lower house elections see here (accessed 6 April 2013).

23 See Toshiya Takahashi. “Oversimplifying Japan's Right Turn.” East Asia Forum, 28 March 2013 (accessed 11 April 2013).

24 See Gavan McCormack. “Abe Days Are Here Again: Japan in the World.” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol.10, Iss.52, No. 1, December 24, 2012.

25 In a recent interview with the Asahi Shimbun Ishihara renewed his call for a Japan with nuclear weapons; see here (accessed 6 April 2013).

26 See Tessa Morris-Suzuki. “Out With Human Rights, In With Government-Authored History: The Comfort Women and the Hashimoto Prescription for a ‘New Japan.’“ The Asia- Pacific Journal, Vol.10, Iss.36, No.1, September 3, 2012.

27 As is well known, Abe's grandfather was Kishi Nobusuke, a former ranking official in Manzhoukuo and an unindicted war criminal under the occupation who rose to prime minister and LDP president.

28 Nogami Tadaoki. Dokyumento Abe Shinzo kakureta sugao wo ou (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2006), p.28.

29 Both books published under these Japanese titles by Tokyo-based Bungei shunju.

30 Interview Nishioka Tsutomu, 19 August 2011, Tokyo.

31 Interview Sato Katsumi, 8 October 2011, Tokyo. The investigative journalist and former Kyodo reporter Aoki Osamu has presented the most detailed account yet on the movement's internal rifts and power struggles in his Repo ratchi to hitobito: Sukuukai, kōan keisatsu, chōsen soren (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 2011), and here esp. pp.80-84.

32 Yamada Toshihiro. “Ratchi higaisha, 10nen me no genjitsu.” Newsweek (24 October 2012), p.30.

33 Interview, Ando Tetsuo (chair of Sukuukai Miyagi), 1 September 2012, Sendai.

34 On the Zaitokukai Yasuda Koichi's recently published account Netto to aikoku: zaitokukai no ‘ami’ wo oikakete (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2012).

35 See Maslow (2011). “Nationalism 2.0 in Japan.” Asian Politics & Policy, Vol.3, Iss.2, pp.307-310. On the rise of reactive nationalism in Japan see Apichai W. Shipper's 2010 article “Nationalisms of and Against Zainichi Koreans in Japan.” Asian Politics & Policy, Vol.2, Iss.1, pp.55-75.

36 For the data see http://www8.cao.go.jp/survey/h24/h24-gaiko/2-1.html (accessed 30 March 2013).

37 See for example Tessa Morris-Suzuki. “Free Speech - Silenced Voices: The Japanese Media, the Comfort Women Tribunal and the NHK Affair.” The Asia-Pacific Journal, 13 August 2005.

38 On the ‘comfort women’ issue see Tessa Morris-Suzuki. “Japan's ‘Comfort Women’: It's Time for the Truth (In the Ordinary, Everyday Sense of the Word).” Japan Focus, 7 March 2007.

39 The case is described by Steve Clemons in his Washington Post op-ed “The Rise of Japan's Thought Police” published on 27 August 2006. Komori responded in his op-ed “Who's Afraid of Shinzo Abe?” published in The New York Times on 30 September 2006.

40 See Sebastian Maslow. “Right-Wing Politics in Postwar Japan (1945-Present).” In Louis G. Perez (ed.). Japan at War: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio, pp.335-337. Year?

41 See here (accessed 7 April 7, 2013).

42 See here (accessed 7 April 2013).

43 Other cases of Zaitokukai members intimidating local authorities and teachers are reported in Yasuda's Netto to aikoku.

44 The full list of Japan's economic sanction apparatus towards North Korea is available here (accessed 11 April 2013).

45 Yokoto Takashi. “Ratchi ‘kyoko ronsha’ no musekinin.” Newsweek, 24 October 2012, p.32.

46 See here (accessed 7 April 7, 2013).

47 A recent description of Chongryun's network in Japan is provided Armin Rosen's article “The Strange Rise and Fall of North Korea's Business Empire in Japan” published in The Atlantic, 26 July 2012 (accessed 7 April 7, 2013).

48 See here (accessed 30 March 2013).

49 See here (accessed 30 March 2013).

50 See “Kyūshinryoku modaranu chōsen soren jijitsujo no ‘taishikan’ baikyaku kyogaku shakkin ni ikari funshutsu.” Asahi Shimbun (3 April 2013), p.10.

51 See here (accessed 29 March 2013).

52 See here (accessed 29 March 2013).

53 See here (accessed 8 April 2013).

54 Ibid.

55 See here (accessed 8 April 2013).

56 See here (accessed 11 April 2013).

57 See here (accessed 30 March 2013).

58 See here (accessed 11 April 2013).

59 For the full transcript of the speech see here (accessed 8 April 2013).

60 Araki is also director of the so-called Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea (Tokutei shissōsha mondai chōsakai, nicknamed Chōsakai). Chōsakai is closely linked to the Sukuukai and operates in many ways as a “research body” for the abduction lobby.

61 See here (accessed 8 April 2013). High academic reputation for DPRK expertise can only be credited to Takesada Hideshi, formerly of Yonsei University and Shizuoka Prefectural University's Izumi Hajime, both prominent DPRK specialists.

62 For a detailed account on DPRK-China relations see Gomi Yōji's Kitachōsen to chūgoku: dasan de tsunagaru dōmeikoku wa shototsu suru ka (Tokyo: Chikuma shinsho, 2012).