2021 Volume 62 Issue 3 Pages 2-31
The aim of this paper is to clarify factors that led to the expansion of Japan–North Korea trade in the early 1960s during the negotiations for normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea. The development process of Japan–North Korea trade is investigated using historical materials from the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan. Previous research indicates that Japan–North Korea trade was gradually institutionalized as a result of conflict between the Japanese government and the business world. This paper focuses on interagency conflict within the Japanese government, which had been assumed to function as a single actor, and makes the case that the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) played an important role in institutionalizing Japan–North Korea trade. Japan’s policy toward the Korean Peninsula included not only the “Cold War logic” of MOFA, which intended to prioritize the Republic of Korea but also the “economic logic” of MITI, MOF, and the business world, which sought to expand economic relations with North Korea. Then, due to the stalling of negotiations for normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea, the “economic logic” faction became dominant over the “Cold War logic” faction within the Japanese government. Therefore, Japan–North Korea trade continued to develop even during the Cold War in East Asia.
