This essay, dated November 24, 2019, is based on an article from Shukan Bunshun Digital.
It introduces Anti-Japan Tribalism coauthor Lee Woo-yeon’s analysis of Korean political traits, the Moon Jae-in administration’s hesitation over the GSOMIA extension, and the ideological, unscientific, and servile characteristics he identifies in Korean society.

November 24, 2019.
A character also common to Japan’s opposition political operators, the Asahi Shimbun and the like, NHK, so-called human-rights lawyers, so-called civic groups whose main members are Korean residents in Japan, and so-called cultural figures such as Kenzaburo Oe and Haruki Murakami.
The following is from an article released by the editorial department of Shukan Bunshun Digital at 22:00 on November 23, 2019.
The parts marked with ＊～＊ are mine.
Why could Moon Jae-in not decide to extend GSOMIA until six hours before the deadline?
“Korean politicians are poor at dialogue and compromise, and politics centers on slandering one another.
Furthermore, because they do not have solid support bases, their approval ratings fluctuate sharply depending on how much they attack their opponents.
The reason democracy does not grow in South Korea is that there are limits in that area.”
The person who said this was Lee Woo-yeon, a research fellow at the Naksungdae Institute of Economic Research and coauthor of Anti-Japan Tribalism, published by Bungeishunju, which has become a bestseller in both Japan and South Korea.
On November 22, regarding the General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, the Moon Jae-in administration of South Korea informed Japan of its policy to suspend the effect of its notification that it would terminate the agreement.
It was a decision made at the very last moment, six hours before the expiration deadline.
Why was President Moon unable to make a decision until he had been driven so far?
What Mr. Lee revealed in an interview with Shukan Bunshun Digital was the “characteristics of Korean politicians” introduced at the beginning.
Mr. Lee continued as follows.
“Some people speak as if South Korea’s political level is extremely high, but South Korea still has little experience with democracy.
Originally, politics is the act of coordinating and integrating opinions with other forces that have different interests.
Because present-day South Korea lacks that ability, it can do nothing but relentlessly drive its opponent into a corner as if the opponent were a ‘devil.’”
Japan is “below,” but South Korea ingratiates itself with the United States.
Regarding South Korea’s termination of GSOMIA, experts in diplomacy and military affairs repeatedly pointed out that “it is irrational to terminate the agreement when the benefits for South Korea are large,” and that “the increased burden on the United States is more serious than on Japan.”
As for the background in which such an “anti-Japan” policy, which later had to be withdrawn, was decided as a government policy, Mr. Lee points to its relationship with domestic policy.
“What is important domestically now is employment and economic growth, but the Moon administration has completely failed there.
The North Korean nuclear issue, which is the most important external issue, has not basically been resolved either.
In this situation, I think they are trying to raise their approval rating by leading the people’s attention to an unreasonable place.”
Regarding the problems of South Korean society that made the “irrational” decision to terminate GSOMIA, Mr. Lee’s three reasons for seeing South Korean society as “premodern” are useful.
“The first is its ‘ideological character.’
Present-day South Korean society, without being based on objective reality, creates a single totality at the level of assumption, namely that ‘Japan is absolute evil.’
In other words, it is not a concrete discussion that the Japanese government, individuals, or Japanese society have ethically or politically bad points, but rather that Japan exists ideologically as ‘the one and only absolute evil.’”
＊The above is also a character common to Japan’s opposition political operators, the Asahi Shimbun and the like, NHK, so-called human-rights lawyers, so-called civic groups whose main members are Korean residents in Japan, and so-called cultural figures such as Kenzaburo Oe and Haruki Murakami＊
“The second reason is its ‘unscientific character.’
Present-day South Korean society asserts and accepts things that are not objective facts.
For example, the series of claims made by supporters of the Korean comfort women issue, such as that 200,000 girls were taken away and made into comfort women.
They are unable to think rationally or reasonably, and become extremely emotional.”
“The third is its ‘distorted and biased perception of reality.’
South Korean society regards Japan as ‘below’ itself, while ingratiating itself with China and the United States.
By means of that extremely servile attitude toward great powers, the country has lost its sense of balance.”
Making decisions based on ideological and unscientific assumptions, while ingratiating itself with the United States.
Mr. Lee’s observations precisely match the structure of hesitation over this GSOMIA extension.
The Moon administration is not an administration that considers the national interest.
How will the current Japan-South Korea relationship, said to be “the worst in history,” develop from now on?
“I think the present situation is different from those in the past.
The Moon Jae-in administration is not only the most anti-Japanese administration ever, but also an administration trying to use anti-Japanese emotions and perceptions for its own political interests.
On the other hand, in Japan, the Abe administration is taking a strong position that ‘South Korea’s arbitrary words and actions will no longer be tolerated.’
I think things have become so tangled because two administrations positioned at these two extremes are facing each other.
Regarding the issue of requisitioned workers, South Korea will probably refuse to agree to the holding of an arbitration committee to the very end, so Japan may file a case with the International Court of Justice.
However, South Korea will probably not respond to that either.
Then I do not know what measures Japan will take next.
There are many things that are unclear when one thinks concretely, but in any case, I think it will move in the direction of further deterioration.
That is because the Moon administration is not an administration that considers the national interest.”
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Shukan Bunshun Digital has published the full 14,000-character interview with Lee Woo-yeon, coauthor of Anti-Japan Tribalism, titled “52 Questions That Explain ‘Moon Jae-in’s Korea’: A Korean Scholar, Coauthor of the Bestseller Anti-Japan Tribalism, Answers.”
It is filled with hints for understanding “Moon Jae-in’s Korea,” which is difficult for Japanese people to grasp, including “the true face of President Moon, the eternal student activist,” “why the requisitioned workers ruling is not legally valid,” and “the largely sentimental Asahi Shimbun.”
Editorial Department, Shukan Bunshun Digital.