Korea-Japan Joint Historical Research Committee Ends In Deadlock

The “Joint Historical Research Committee” established between Korea and Japan in March 2002 in order to narrow the gap between the two countries’ views on history ended after three years on March 26.

At its sixth general meeting held in Tokyo on March 26, the joint historical research committee consisting of historical scholars from the two countries tried to coordinate its issues such as Korean comfort women, ownership of Dokdo and the distortion of Japanese history books, but its attempts ended in vain. The two sides decided to write each opinion on the report in the end.

An official involved in the committee said that although the two countries converged on ancient history and medieval history to some degree, they were in stark contrast to each other on modern history.

The joint historical research committee began work in March 2002 in the wake of the growth of Japanese Fusosha textbook distortions in 2001 into a Korea-Japan diplomatic issue and consulted on nineteen subjects ranging from ancient history to modern history.

The report of the committee will be released around May after being submitted to the Joint Committee for the Promotion of Joint Historical Research between Korea and Japan.

Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com