Chronologies

Japan - Korea

Chronology from Jan 2016 to May 2016

: UN Security Council condemns North Korean test launch of an SLBM.

: North Korea tests a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

: Japan and South Korea hold talks in Seoul regarding the implementation of the December comfort women deal.

: US-ROK-Japan trilateral consultations are held in Seoul.

: Korean School Principals Association demands that the Japanese government retract its guidelines about re-evaluating subsidies to schools with affiliations to Chongryon.

: South Korea holds parliamentary elections, prompting major newspapers in Japan to voice concerns about future bilateral relations, particularly as President Park’s ruling Saenuri Party loses parliamentary majority.

: South Korean actress Song Hye-kyo is reported to have turned down an offer from Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors to star in an advertisement based on Mitsubishi Group’s involvement in the forced labor of Koreans during Japan’s colonial rule.

: McDonalds triggers protest and calls for a boycott from Japan after one of its television commercials depicts an employee doing a Korean-style bow.

: South Korean food manufacturer Nongshim reports that its Japanese affiliate saw a 22.6 percent year-on-year increase in sales during the first quarter of 2016.

: KCNA reports that Kim Jong Un has overseen a successful test of a “heavy-lift” engine of a “new-type” of intercontinental ballistic rocket at the Sohae Space Center.

: According to The Mainichi, Japan’s Prime Minister Abe has warned North Korea that it will “pay a severe price” for claiming that it has successfully tested a new type of engine for its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

: Nike Korea removes one of its Air Jordan sneaker lines after complaints that the design incorporates images of Japan’s rising sun flag.

: South Korean Ambassador to Japan Yoo Heung-soo tells Yonhap News that he has offered his resignation.

: China, Japan, and South Korea hold working-level talks on the trilateral Free Trade Agreement in Seoul.

: South Korean Ministry of the Interior announces its plans to set up a gene bank to help verify victims of forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule.

: North Korea launches three surface-to-air missiles from its South Hamgyong province in the country’s northeastern area.

: Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye meet for a brief meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC.

: The Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation announces that beer imports to Korea hit a record high in 2015, with Japan taking the number one spot.

: The Asahi Shimbun reports that Japan’s central government sent guidelines to prefectural governments about re-evaluating subsidies to Korean schools affiliated with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon.

: Commander of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Adm. Takei Tomohisa and South Korean Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jung Ho-sub, meet in South Korea to discuss collaboration between the two navies.

: Lawyers for a Democratic Society file a petition with the South Korean Constitutional Court claiming that the December agreement on comfort women/sex slaves violates the rights of the former victims of sexual slavery.

: Seoul and Tokyo hold working-level talks in Tokyo led by Director General of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Ishikane Kimihiro and Director General of the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau Chung Byung-won to discuss implementation of the agreement on comfort women/sex slaves.

: The Mainichi reports that Japan has banned 22 people from re-entering Japan after visiting North Korea, as part of sanctions levied against Pyongyang.

: South Korean government protests Japan’s authorization of new high school textbooks with references to Japan’s claims to the disputed territory of Dokdo/Takeshima.

: UN Security Council issues a unanimous statement saying that North Korea’s March 17 missile launches “constituted a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.”

: North Korea fires two medium-range ballistic missiles, prompting Japan to lodge a protest through the North Korean embassy in Beijing.

: South Korea’s Gender Equality and Family Minister Kang Eun-hee says the Japan-Korea agreement on comfort women/sex slaves should be respected.

: Pyongyang launches six short-range projectiles off its east coast.
March 10, 2016: Japan lodges protest against North Korea for firing short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

: UN Security Council unanimously adopts UNSC Resolution 2270, the toughest sanctions ever imposed on North Korea, in response to its fourth nuclear test and rocket launch.

: Lawyers for a Democratic Society (based in South Korea) files a suit with the Seoul Administrative Court against the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking disclosure of the documents that were exchanged during the negotiations in December between Japan and Korea over the comfort women/sex slaves.

: Japanese government grants entry to Japan by the North Korean women’s football team for their qualifying match for the Olympics despite the new sanctions.

: North Korea announces that it will halt its investigation into the abduction of Japanese citizens.

: Japan decides to levy additional unilateral sanctions on North Korea in response to its nuclear test in January and the latest satellite launch.

: North Korea launches its satellite, Kwangmyongsong-4.

: Officials from the US, Japan, and South Korea hold a video conference to discuss the announcement of a satellite launch by North Korea.

: North Korea lambasts the US for orchestrating the comfort women/sex slaves deal between Japan and South Korea.

: Yonhap News reports that Korea International Trade Association (KITA) trade figures place Japan as the fifth largest export market for South Korea in 2015, one place lower than the year before.

: UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in North Korea Marzuki Darusman meets families of Japanese abductees during a visit to Tokyo.

: North Korea conducts its fourth nuclear detonation.

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