U.S. role and responsibility in effecting reconciliation in Northeast Asia

GW Shin headshot2
The role and responsibility of the United States in leading the way to the reconciliation of twentieth-century wartime events in Northeast Asia is the subject of two recent articles by Gi-Wook Shin, director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and the Stanford Korean Studies Program. In Asia-Pacific Memo, Shin notes that whatever actions the United States might take must be carefully handled so as not to alienate any of Japan's neighbors. In Pacific Affairs, he argues for a reevaluation of actions taken by the United States during and in the aftermath of World War II, including its bombing of Japan and its role in the handling of the Tokyo Tribunal and the San Francisco Peace Treaty.