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  • in the sometimes strained relations between Japan and South Korea, the Corona virus outbreak has exposed the animosity that exists below the surface.

  • South Korea says it wasn't consulted before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the new measures.

  • Visitors from both China and South Korea will be required to be quarantined for two weeks at the location designated by the quarantine director and ask that they refrain from using public transportation in the country.

  • That brought a swift response from Seoul.

  • The Japanese ambassador was summoned for an official reprimand way.

  • Find this very regrettable and urged the Japanese government of its draw such an excessive and unreasonable measure immediately, our government will devise a proper countermeasure against Japan's measures.

  • Opponents in South Korea accused the Japanese government of trying to deflect criticism of its handling of the Corona virus outbreak, in particular the attempted quarantining of a cruise ship that left hundreds of passengers sickened.

  • While criticizing Japan's efforts, South Korea has been quick to show the scale on transparency of its own response, which is one international praise.

  • Testing on an industrial scale means thousands of people are being checked for the virus every day.

  • South Korea has been touted as an outstanding example of releasing information in a transparent and rapid manner.

  • In that sense, I believe that Japan's moved not fully take into account our central and local government's efforts.

  • The growing dispute between two leading countries in the fight against this global health emergency is worrying for the international community.

  • The two sides have long disagreed over trade on the legacy of the Second World War.

  • More than 100 countries now have travel restrictions on people arriving from South Korea, but unlike many off them, Japan is a vital trading partner.

  • This quarantine measure will cause further economic pain, and there's a lingering suspicion here that politics, not public health, is the motivation behind it.

  • Rob McBride Al Jazeera So pleased to welcome Robert Kelly to the news on professor of international relations and political science at percent National University.

  • He's on Skype from their Nice to have you with us, Mr Kelly, South Korea, saying that this move by Japan is regrettable.

  • I can understand why they might say that, but you can also see from the Japanese perspective why they would take such a mother.

  • Has South Korea perhaps overreacted?

  • A bit.

  • Yeah, I would actually say I think they have a little bit.

  • I think a lot of it is really sort of layered over with some sort of general animosity there is in South Korea regarding Japanese foreign policy and the legacy of the war on DSO.

  • Anything that comes from Japan that seems single out South Korea or sort of call it individually gets met, sort of with pushback, particularly from the South Korean left, which currently holds the presidency.

  • Um, but yeah, that part of it.

  • Also to reflect the fact that the current president of South Korea has not actually imposed travel ban on Chinese coming into South Korea, which and he's being sort of blamed for that, leading to the sort of big outbreak here that's happened.

  • And right now it looks like the Japanese are doing it to South Koreans.

  • So the South Koreans feel so compelled to kind of push back toe, I think could justify the decision, not the band.

  • Chinese travelers.

  • It's kind of a tangle other than talking about it's regret, as South Korea has done.

  • What sort of reaction would you expect for them from further from here?

  • Well, that.

  • I think the most obvious thing to do would be to band Japanese travelers in response, right?

  • And that, of course, gets tricky, right, because create all with all three of them, right?

  • Korea, Japan and China trade a great deal, right?

  • And not just tourism, which is obviously a problem now.

  • But I mean, all of them are high up trade partners one another, so they start banging each other.

  • It actually gets pretty tricky.

  • This has been sort of the pressure on all of them deserve a void cutting business links and stuff like that.

  • I would imagine that Koreans might consider tariffs or something like that or restrictions on cultural imports.

  • And they're all sorts of small things South Koreans can do to sort of hit back.

  • But I mean, until the South Korean government gets the virus outbreak here under control, which I think is beginning to happen, I think that things are starting to turn in the last couple days.

  • But until they do, a lot of countries are going to do with the Japanese.

  • Actually, what we're talking about South Korea, Can I ask?

  • You are self isolating, I believe Is that right?

  • Yeah, well, that the government is telling people basically not to go anywhere, actually, Um, yeah.

  • I mean, we're basically sort of locked in our house.

  • I mean, my my job has been I'm a college professor.

  • I'm not teaching right now.

  • They've just dangerous cancel classes the next two weeks.

  • My kids were in kindergarten.

  • That's also been canceled.

  • So we're basically just stuck in the house.

  • Yeah.

  • How's that going?

  • I mean, we obviously we all know your kids.

  • We've seen them having a coping there.

  • We had a great free spirit when we saw them on their famous interview.

  • Now, how are they coping with being cooped up in the house?

  • Not well.

  • I have three spirits are not good with, you know, a couple of rooms in an apartment.

  • Yeah.

  • I mean, we live in an apartment, um, and and there's just not a lot of place for them to go write this crawling the walls and stuff like that.

  • I mean, it is actually rather tough, and this is something you're hearing all over South Korea, right?

  • That parents have a lot of trouble managing their kids, you know, and people having trouble staying home from work, right?

  • I mean, people gotta go to work.

  • They got to go to the grocery store.

  • Um, I'm actually kind of wondering what the government's gonna do if they're still telling us in a month that we can't leave our house.

  • I mean, we're not ordering food over the Internet were not allowed to take our kids the jungle gym.

  • They've closed the gym in the gym, in my building.

  • I mean, it's just there's just like nothing you could do inside the complex anymore.

  • And the streets are empty.

  • I wonder how much longer the government can sustain this.

  • Right?

  • So this is going beyond the 14 days which we hear about for most people who sort of if you've been to X country and you come back from there, then you should self isolate for two weeks because that's the apparent incubation period.

  • But you're just talking about an open ended pretty much don't go out Well, that's what the government has told us, right?

  • I mean, we're sort of, you know, I mean, we're not, you know, not many people epidemiologists, of course.

  • So we're sort of falling where the government says, and right now, yet something of, ah, blanket recommendation that you don't go outside that you stay in that you avoid large groups of people.

  • Um, that you don't really go to any kind of congregation of any kind, right?

  • I mean, don't go to a concert.

  • Don't go to church.

  • Don't go toe.

  • You don't go to I don't know, uh, you know, go run a run, a race or something.

  • I just stay away from people almost all together.

  • And that's what's so difficult, right?

  • Because that basically means the kids just can't leave the house, right.

  • And that's just it's just you're you're just everybody's getting cabin fever, right?

  • And you can see it when I can.

  • I see.

  • When I talked to friends, Mine, too.

  • There all struggle with the same issue, right?

  • Like, how do you sort of manage all this time indoors, Robert Kelly.

  • Good to talk to you.

  • Best wishes The family hope it all goes well.

  • Thank you.

  • Thank you.

  • Thank you.

in the sometimes strained relations between Japan and South Korea, the Corona virus outbreak has exposed the animosity that exists below the surface.

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