At Tokyo, on 22 June 1965, at the Prime Minister’s official residence, the Treaty on Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea was signed by Etsusaburo Shiina, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Shinichi Takasugi, for Japan; and Tong Won Lee, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Dong Jo Kim, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, for the Republic of Korea. The instrument has seven articles, in Japanese, Korean and English, all authentic; in case of divergence the English text prevails. Eisaku Satō and Park Chung-hee did not sign.

The Treaty on Basic Relations is not the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, nor the annexation treaty of 1910, nor the Agreement on the settlement of problems concerning property and claims and on economic co-operation (UNTS 8473) signed the same day, nor the fisheries agreement. North Korea is not a party.

Article I: diplomatic and consular relations shall be established; diplomatic envoys of ambassadorial rank shall be exchanged without delay; consulates at places to be agreed. Article II: it is confirmed that all treaties or agreements concluded between the Empire of Japan and the Empire of Korea on or before 22 August 1910 are already null and void. Article III: it is confirmed that the Government of the Republic of Korea is the only lawful Government in Korea as specified in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 195 (III) of 12 December 1948.

Article IV: the parties shall be guided by the Charter of the United Nations and shall cooperate in conformity with it. Article V: they shall enter into negotiations at the earliest practicable date for treaties on trading, maritime and other commercial relations. Article VI: likewise for civil air transport. Article VII: ratification; instruments to be exchanged at Seoul as soon as possible; the treaty enters into force on the date of the exchange. The exchange was on 18 December 1965.

The same day a separate agreement on property and claims was signed: Japan supplies the Republic of Korea with products and services worth 300 million dollars over ten years, and long-term low-interest loans up to 200 million. Article II of that agreement says that problems concerning property, rights, interests and claims, including those in Article IV(a) of the San Francisco treaty, have been settled completely and finally. It is not the text of the Basic Treaty.

The bilateral talks ran from October 1951. The Basic Treaty is not the later list of individual lawsuits, nor the 2015 comfort-women agreement.

Image: Chunichi Shimbun front page, 23 June 1965, on the signing at the Prime Minister’s official residence; Chunichi Shimbun, public domain, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Treaty on Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of Korea. Treaty text: UNTS 583, No. 8471, Treaty on Basic Relations, Tokyo, 22 June 1965.