In the credit-where-credit-is-due department, this trend toward rapprochement began during a four-day trip to Japan by President Kim four years ago. I happened to be in Tokyo at the time, and Kim's performance was startling. The past is important and we must nod to it, Kim told Keizo Obuchi, the late prime minister. Let us repair the damage -- but only as we look to the future.
The driving force then was economics. Kim recognized, perhaps before any other Asian leader, that regional interdependence was the true name of the game to be played in coming years.
The lesson here is simple: Economic circumstances define diplomacy -- you can always count on this -- far more effectively than football matches.
The interesting thing to note now is -- please, once more and never again -- who's in possession of the ball.
As the World Cup opens, South Korea looks every bit the shining star, while Japan plods along behind like an out-of-breath also-ran. South Korea's growth this year is forecast to reach 4 percent and its non-performing loan problem is disappearing. And Japan? Just the opposite: declining growth, rising NPLs.
Animosity is perhaps understandable under the circumstances.
So long as it's played out on a football pitch, I'm not particularly concerned.
Patrick Smith is a former correspondent in Asia and the author of Japan: A Reinterpretation. The opinions expressed are his own.
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