On October 16-17, 2020, Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, the East Asia Institute(EAI) and the Genron NPO jointly hosted the 8th Korea-Japan Future Dialogue in Seoul, Korea. Under the theme of “Korea-Japan cooperation amidst changing global order,” the conference was held to provide future prospects for the bilateral relationship, which has been in unprecedented turmoil since 2018 South Korean supreme court ruling ordering Japanese firms to compensate Koreans for the forced labor.
While agreeing on the low possibility of the short-term recovery of the bilateral relationship, participants from both Korea and Japan stressed that the spectrum of common strategic interests is getting larger in the midst of changing global order due to COVID-19 pandemic and the US-China competition. President Park, In-kook of Chey Institute noted that Korea-Japan relationship should be seen in much larger global context. Prof. Okuzono Hideki from Shizuoka University also stated that the two countries should build a more future-oriented, cooperative relationship based on common challenges like intensifying Sino-US competition.