Japan, Korea, and the Takeshima Secret Pact

“A solution without a solution.” In 1965, a secret pact concluded between the leaders of Japan and South Korea quietly shelved territorial dispute over the island of Takeshima (Dokdo), setting the course for normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Several well-known figures were active in the complex and convoluted political maneuvering and backroom negotiations that helped bring the pact to fruition. For the first time ever, this book—including personal accounts from those who were directly involved—reveals the painstaking work behind the scenes to mend the fraught relationship between Japan and South Korea by conceiving the most subtle of solutions. And yet the pact and all that it achieved would mysteriously be erased from history. How and why did this happen? Winner of the Asia Pacific Award, Japan and Korea’s Secret Pact on Takeshima is a fascinating look into the intricate process of mending diplomatic relations and the small island that was the center of it all.

Daniel ROH
Daniel Roh is a writer, researcher, and scholar on political economy and Asian history. Born in 1954 in Seoul, he received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in comparative political economy. His extensive professional experience includes working as professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, visiting professor at The People’s Bank of China’s Research Department and Shanghai’s Tongji University, foreign researcher at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, and visiting researcher at Hitotsubashi University and Kyoto Sangyo University. In 2015, he established Asia Risk Monitor, Inc. in Seoul, where he currently evaluates political and economic risks in Northeast Asia. His other publications in Japanese include “Chisei shinri” de kataru: Hantō to rettō [Geopolitical Mentalities of the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago] (Fujiwara Shoten, 2017) and in Korean, Abe Sinjo no Ilbon [Abe Shinzō’s Japan] (Sechang Publishing, 2014) and the novel Ginugawa [The Kinugawa River] (Nanam, 2010).

*information as of time of publication

History

Publisher:
Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture

Hardcover
¥4,300 + tax
ISBN 9784866582498
210 mm x 148 mm / 244 pp. / March 2024

eBook
ISBN 9784866582504 (ePub)
ISBN 9784866582511 (PDF)

CONTENTS
Key Personnel
Changes in Fishery Zones and Territorial Waters in Relation to Takeshima
Outline of Formal Talks in the Negotiations for the Normalization of Diplomatic Relations
Prologue How Was the “Solution without a Solution” Reached?
Chapter 1 The Years at Sea
Chapter 2 The Japan Diplomacy of Uncle and Nephew
Chapter 3 The New Japan-ROK Lobby
Chapter 4 The Takeshima Secret Pact
Chapter 5 Two Losses
Afterword
Afterword to the Pocket Edition
Developments Related to the Takeshima Issue
Key Works and References
Index
About the Author

「解決せざるをもって、解決したとみなす」。1965年、竹島（独島）問題を棚上げする密約が河野一郎国務大臣と丁一権総理の間で交わされた。交渉に関わった岸信介・池田勇人・佐藤栄作、李承晩・朴正煕の日韓両国の歴代政権、その裏で動いた大野伴睦、河野一郎、矢次一夫、児玉誉士夫、金鍾泌らフィクサーたちの動向を捉え、密約に至った全プロセスをたどる。そして金泳三政権以降、密約が反故にされた理由とは？アジア・太平洋賞大賞の力作ドキュメント！