ADRN

Despite a long history of economic, social and cultural exchange, numerous disputes and conflicts between Korea and Japan remain unresolved. At the foundation of these disputes are perception gaps and rising nationalistic sentiments amongst the Korean and Japanese publics which contribute to the exacerbation of strained relations between the two countries.

The Korea-Japan Future Dialogue addresses various issues of dispute between the two countries accompanied by larger discussions on the public perception gap. Since the first Dialogue was held in Tokyo in May 2013, EAI and The Genron NPO have cooperated to hold roundtables with the host alternating annually between Korea and Japan. The Dialogue offers a valuable venue for citizens to converse and share their perceptions of each other's countries as well as discuss the various factors that hinder bilateral relations from moving forward. In doing so, the Dialogue enables a constructive brainstorming process to take place within civil society by promoting discussions of possible methods that could be utilized to mitigate the existing perception gap. Participants include Korean and Japanese citizens from political, economic, academic and cultural spheres. The "Korea-Japan Future Dialogue" bases its discussions on the "Korea-Japan Public Opinion Survey," which is conducted annually by EAI and The Genron NPO to examine mutual public perceptions.