日本與朝鮮半島的關係發展，在二次大戰之後始終受到歷史因素的影響，儘管日本與南韓在1965年建交，兩國關係仍稱不上友好。不過日本與南韓在1998年發表聯合宣言，宣示將建立面向未來的伙伴關係之後，兩國關係進入自1965年建交以來的高峰期，兩國交流一時間為之大盛。然而兩國的友好關係在小泉於2001年上任之後面臨危機。2001年小泉純一郎以其超高人氣獲選自民黨總裁進而成為首相，政治風格與過去首相大異其趣，其新保守主義傾向及欲使日本成為正常國家的願望都刺激南韓對過去歷史的慘痛回憶，使得歷史爭議在小泉任內成為阻礙兩國關係發展的主要因素。此外北韓飛彈試射與核武計畫也對日韓關係產生影響。小泉為後冷戰時期在任最久的一位首相，因此研究其任內日韓關係的發展及影響變數，應可協助瞭解日韓關係的本質及預測未來的變化。 本文將於第一章首先簡單介紹過去歷史中日本與朝鮮半島關係發展的糾葛，而到了小泉上任之前兩國已漸能朝向伙伴關係的建立為發展目標，其次將說明本論文的研究動機與目的、研究範圍與限制、研究方法與途徑以及論文架構安排等。第二章則討論小泉政府的外交政策與對外特徵。首先探討日本傳統對外政策的特徵，其次再由小泉所發表的就職演說、國會施政演說，與小泉任內所任用之外務省大臣、外交青書、防衛白書等來分析小泉首相個人特質及其對國際情勢之看法，以及對外政策的主要重點，第三在朝鮮半島政策方面，則希望藉由小泉個人所發表談話與國際環境的變化來分析小泉政府的朝鮮半島政策，且與過去日本的朝鮮半島政策有何異同。第三章將分析小泉時期的日韓安全關係發展，首先在1998年日韓雙方的友好宣言中曾經協議日韓雙方將定期舉行海上搜救演習，與軍事方面的合作會議，因此將討論雙方在小泉時期是否繼續進行友好宣言中所承諾的軍事安全合作行動，而這些又會否受到其他因素影響而延後、暫停或是提高層級，其次將討論北韓屢次的挑釁行為，以及北韓與日本、南韓之間的互動，將對日韓安全合作帶來何種影響，另外本章也將研究美國與中國對日韓發展安全關係有何影響。第四章為介紹小泉時期之日韓政治關係發展，小泉時期主要引發日韓政治關係惡化的因素有歷史爭議、參拜靖國神社事件、北韓問題等，將逐一介紹這些因素以及產生何種影響。第五章分析小泉時期的日韓經濟關係發展。本章將首先探討日韓雙方的貿易往來與相互投資，藉由日本經濟產業省、外務省及南韓外交通商部等公布的官方統計數據來分析雙方的經濟互賴程度，對雙方關係有何影響，其次討論經濟專屬區（EEZ）的劃界爭議，最後分析日韓建立自由貿易區的可能性，且對日韓的經濟關係有何影響。最後第六章為結論，綜合歸納出小泉時期的日韓關係發展大致走向與特徵，並嘗試推論出日韓關係發展的正負面因素各為何，對往後的日韓關係發展可能又會產生何種程度的影響，與未來的日韓關係可能會呈現何種態勢。 / The relation between Japan and Korean Peninsula was affected by historical factor after the World War II. Though Japan and South Korea have built the official relationship since 1965, their relation was not quite very well. Japan and South Korea signed the joint declaration and vowed to creat the future-oriented relationship. Thus the relationship between Japan and South Korea reached the peek. The exchange of these two countries became vigorous at that time. However, the friendship between the two countries faced the crisis when Koizumi assumes office in 2001. Koizumi’s personal style has totally different from the prime minister in the past. His neo-conservative prospect and efforts to make Japan a “normal state” reminded South Korea people those painful memories about the invaded past. In addition, North Korea’s nuclear weapon plan and missile test also influenced the relation between the two countries. Koizumi’s tenure was the longest one in the post-cold war era, hence it may helpful to understand the essence of the Japan-South Korea relations and predict the future by studying the development and variables in Koizumi’s tenure. The thesis mainly focuses on the development of Japan-South Korea relations during the Koizumi period and being divided into six chapters. Chapter one is consisted of research motive, purpose, scopes methods, limits and the background of the Japan-South Korea relations in the past. Chapter two is going to conclude the speeches, diplomacy white papers and other official papers delivered by Koizumi or his government in order to analyze Koizumi’s personality and his international prospective. Chapter three discuss the development of their security relation, including their actual military exchanges, and North Korea threat, U.S. factor and China factor would also be discussed in this chapter. Chapter four included the most controversial issue in the political dimension, including historical disputes, territorial conflict and North Korea factor. Chapter five is about the economic corporations, like deepening trade and investment interdependence, Japan-South Korea free trade agreement. But it is worthy to notice that if the unsettled Economic Exclusive Zone boundary dispute is going to be the obstacle in the bilateral partnership. In Chapter six, conclusion is made and figures out which factor is beneficial for Japan-South Korea relations and which is detrimental for the bilateral relations. Further, I would try to predict how those factors work in the future and the development of the Japan-South Korea relations in the post-Koizumi era.

This thesis examines the relationship between Japan and South Korea and the paradox of its disputes despite the economic interdependence with the relational theory of world politics by Qin (2018b). World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) complaints between the countries between the years 2016 and 2020 have been analyzed to study this. The method utilized is that of a predicate discourse analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are employed within the analysis as it includes the extraction of the predicates from qualitative complaint documents but additionally, a quantitative table of the predicates is generated to provide information on the frequencies and case locations of the findings. Neither the theory nor the unit of relation has been widely examined by Western international relations (IR) scholars, which allows this study to lead way for future research on the further expansion of knowledge and utilization of the relational theory. Furthermore, it provides insight into the relational object space of disputes in the relationship between the economically interdependent Japan and South Korea. The theoretical concepts of relational identity, actors as relators, hierarchy, and cultural communities in the analysis explain the existence of the paradox of disputes despite interdependence.