Pompeo hopes to help patch up Japan-South Korea ties

This situation was created by the Korean Prime Minister (Moon) for political reasons. He has reactivated an old issue from WWII and Koreans are seizing Japanese corporate assets. It's a mistake. It has now resulted in trade limitations, boycotts, and deteriorating relations. Japan has a valid treaty dating from 1965 covering the issue. The boycott is not working as Koreans are still buying Japanese products. Japan should hold firm and respond in kind. Korea will eventually get the message.

SK and Japan are the only two democracies in East Asia, and two of the world's strongest economies. They should be working together, like Canada and the U.S. (usually), not working against each other. SK's GDP is on a par with Russia's, and Japan's GDP is more than triple Russia's. Together, SK and Japan can more than counter any threat from a third rate military power like Russia.

@saitamaliving

Really wonder how the US will get those two countries to talk sanely

You wanna know?

https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2019/07/29/japan-wants-to-be-an-official-f-35-partner-the-pentagon-plans-to-say-no/

Japan wants to be an official F-35 partner. The Pentagon plans to say no.

The US taking the hands off approach.

What a farce.

Japanese citizens traveling to South Korea be extra careful this Friday. You can never trust the rabid anti-Japan crowd and their reactions when the Japanese government drops SK from the white list.

Hopes and dreams right there...good luck Pompeo LoL

I doubt the current US government is capable of understanding the whole story that lead to the current "crisis" in SK. Nevertheless it would be a really big step forward if SK was explained by the US, what e.g. "final and irreversible" means, even if it was in a roundabout way. Hope they also get a push in accepting an ICJ rule on another well known main subject. And lastly, it's just a preferential way of treating exports to SK that is being revoked, so actually it's just returning to business as usual like with all the other asian countries. Anyway, SK is currently getting a little brown nose by sending a naval unit to the strait of Hormuz supporting the US alliance which Japan cannot do so easily. Great timing. Really wonder how the US will get those two countries to talk sanely, probably never with Moon in power. He can only continue his carrer by keeping the "natural enemy" alive. Sadly, the SK youth has to continue grow up living in the past, facing fruitful trip and exchange cancellations with Japan, listening to old demagogues... Would SK please at least think about their children and build a bright future not focusing on hate?

@AlexBecu

The US has meddle before in the 2015 deal, S Korea has tear apart that deal in 2018. Where is America?? Koreans already backtrack on an aggrement that was called Final and Irreversible. No comment by Americans, no outrage or help in dealing with the law breaker,aggrement breaker called S. Korea.

The difference is that when Korea tore up the 2015 agreement, the US stayed quite because it didn't hurt US interests.

When Japan imposed its export restriction in 2019, the US jumped right in to intervene, because US tech firms, namely Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google are hit by Japan's export restrictions.

The reason for this is that all iPhones contain Korean memory and NAND chips, while Microsoft, Facebook, and Google's massive server farms running their cloud services use tons of specialized server memory and SSD drives that only Koreans can supply.

Ditto for Qualcomm, Qualcomm fabs its 5G modem chips at Samsung, so does nVIDIA's next-gen 7nm GPU and Intel's RocketLake X86 CPU(First Intel CPU outsourced). They are all screwed by Japan's export control.

@AlexBecu

Korea wins in a standstill deal. 

Indeed, that shows that Pompeo's on Korea's side.

@Ganbare Japan!

I believe wise men like Bolton, Pompeo and Trump will rule in Japans favor, and order inept Moon to back down

You got it backward. Pompeo is pressuring Abe san to cut it out and kick some senses in his head.

It's good if the US can help fix this absolute mess that the inept Korean "leadership" has created.

It's clear that the Koreans government is too inept to fix it themselves. They need help.

@ StrangerLand - brilliantly argued. The US will sort out this mess South Korea has created themselves by allowing materials to be traded to Communist North Korea. It was an unforgivable security risk.

I believe wise men like Bolton, Pompeo and Trump will rule in Japans favor, and order inept Moon to back down, or else lose American support. After all, Japan is USAs number one friend and ally. Not Korea.

Up to 700,000 South Koreans only can do the same as the few individuals who won the Supreme Court ruling. 65k to 120k per individual.

Now, multiply 700,000 times 65k or 120k.

Thats just South Koreans.

Another million North Koreans could do the same in the future, add them up too.

The payment would be in the hundreds of billions to cover all this people. You are paying wallfare for old people in Korea that their own government refuse to take care of.

Those who are tired of Korea and the way they handle their relationship with Japan please contact and support the government.

Korea wins in a standstill deal. It's the reason why Korean supporters like Basu love the idea of US pressuring Japan to give them special previlage and ignore the over 90% of Japanese who have Korea fatigue and are done with this country.

The US has meddle before in the 2015 deal, S Korea has tear apart that deal in 2018. Where is America?? Koreans already backtrack on an aggrement that was called Final and Irreversible. No comment by Americans, no outrage or help in dealing with the law breaker,aggrement breaker called S. Korea.

If Abe took actions that didn’t hurt US interests, then Pompeo might have stayed quite.

You act as if it wasn't your country's incompetence in destroying their word by renegging on an agreed upon "final and irreversible" agreement and putting up nothing as a replacement.

@strangerland

If Abe took actions that didn’t hurt US interests, then Pompeo might have stayed quite.

But the US tech firms are screaming about soaring chip prices right now and sent a letter urging Japan to stop it.

In case you are not getting it, Pompeo’s message is meant for Japan, not for Korea.

Heh, the Koreans who went to daddy to ask for help cleaning up their mess?

@strangerland

In case you are not getting it, Pompeo’s message is meant for Japan, not for Korea.

Abe’s actions are causing a harm to US tech industry, so Pompeo is taking steps to stop it.

It's good if the US can help fix this absolute mess that the inept Korean "leadership" has created.

It's clear that the Koreans government is too inept to fix it themselves. They need help.

@Rlperez

Let Japan and SK solve their own disagreements; they don't need the help of a warmonger.

The economic damage to the US is too great, in the form of much higher chip prices.

And the GSOMIA gets terminated.

Moon is a man of politics.  If they had a good economist as a president, they avoided such a crisis. Korean people on the whole are too much political.

For god's sake, can you just forget about Korea?

Korea is the one creating issue. Japan is fine without it.

Besides, Japan is doing well with the rest of all countries, and in Asia, such as Taiwan, Thailand.

Maybe he is hoping to cut an arms deal. Pompeo seems a typical deep state insider. Sad that Trump surrounds himself with these people.

Let Japan and SK solve their own disagreements; they don't need the help of a warmonger. The more the US interferes, the longer the dispute will last. The US can't fix the disputes and havoc it has created around the globe let alone fix anybody else's.