ABSTRACT
Park Geun-Hye’s hasty and inadequate agreement to settle the Japanese military “comfort women” issue with the Japanese government led by Abe Shinzo in December 2015 turned out to be devastating to the victims and the majority of socially and historically conscious South Koreans. Following Park’s impeachment and the election of Moon Jae-In, the Korean government faced a few ongoing related legal cases and attempted to redress the matter, which then angered Japan’s Prime Minister Abe who appeared to look down upon the Korean nation-state. Abe instigated a trade provocation, creating obstacles for some Japanese corporations exporting a few key products to Korean electronics companies. As a response to this trade provocation, Koreans initiated a large-scale boycott against Japan—the “No Abe, No Japan” movement.
