著者

松村 昌廣

出版者

桃山学院大学総合研究所

雑誌

桃山学院大学経済経営論集 = ST.ANDREW'S UNIVERSITY ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW (ISSN:02869721)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.60, no.3, pp.13-32, 2019-01-17

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On December 28, 2015, the Japanese and the South Korean governmentsreached the final and irreversible agreement on “comfort women” issuesafter a protracted diplomatic deadlock. This had impeded not only the twocountries’ bilateral security cooperation but also closer U.S.-Japan-SouthKorea trilateral security cooperation. To remove the impediment, theBarak Obama administration forcefully intervened in the Japan-SouthKorea deadlock.This study will first discuss the circumstances of severe politicization ofthe “comfort women” issues in Japan and South Korea and PresidentObama’s moves as related to the issues. Second, the study will analyzeunderling U.S. strategic interests and Obama’s political stakes behind hismoves. Third, given that the Obama administration did not produce anypolicy document on the issues, the analytical focus will be placed on twopolicy papers of major independent think-tanks that seemed to have shapedhis policy on the issues. Last, based on the total analysis, the study willconjecture near-future Japan-South Korea relations and the prospect forbilateral security cooperation.