Korea has an anti-Japan education, and the whole society is anti-Japan. With Japan being harassed every day, why do Koreans want to improve the Japan-Korea relations nowadays without improving Korea's anti-Japanese policy and anti-Japanese society?

https://www.quora.com/Korea-has-an-anti-Japan-education-and-the-whole-society-is-anti-Japan-With-Japan-being-harassed-every-day-why-do-Koreans-want-to-improve-the-Japan-Korea-relations-nowadays-without-improving-Koreas-anti-Japanese-2/answer/Hidesato-Sakakibara

Because South Korea is getting desperate.

Their “get friendly with China and woo them away from Japan” policy is a complete and total failure. Not only did South Korea fail at wooing China away from Japan, but their relations with China today are worse than Japan’s relations with China. On top of that, Chinese manufacturers are now competing directly with Korean makers in consumer electronics. The Chinese government would like their people to move from products such as Samsung phones to Chinese brands. China is South Korea’s biggest market. Should they lose that they are in deep shit, to say the least.

Their “keep hating Japan to make the people work harder”policy is also failing. Not only have relations with Japan worsened, it has caused a drop in sales of Korean products in Japan. Japan was one of South Korea’s largest markets, but it is no longer. Indeed, Japanese and Japanese-Chinese joint companies are beating South Korean makers head one. This is proving a disaster for the South Korean economy. Today it is safe to say that South Korea’s biggest exports to Japan are in Korean food, entertainment and some cosmetics. These are all goods that Japan can easily do without, or make ourselves. (For example, now most of the kimchee sold in Japan is made in Japan.)

Many younger South Koreans no longer share or want to share the hatred of Japan that the government has been putting forth. They see a lot of hypocrisy when Korea says Japan does not want to own up to the comfort women issue, while the Korean government itself is silent on their own comfort women issue. (Issues that were already resolved and are being dug up again by the Korean side for political reasons.) They believe, and rightly so, that such issues, purposefully kept up in Korea, have lead to no improvement in ties to Japan and in fact have hurt ties. In addition, a lot of economic cooperation with Japanese companies has ended, leaving South Korea in a very bad spot.

So, to sum it up, the economic situation of South Korea is not good, to say the least, Things are getting worse. The recent woes of Asiana Airlines, their second largest airline, are a sign of things to come should conditions not improve. Relations with China are rocky, as they are with Japan - two of Korea’s largest and most important neighbors. So South Korea sees no other choice but to try to mend ties with Japan.

However, whether this will succeed is another thing. Honestly, I doubt that the South Korean government is willing or able to undo the harm that they themselves have caused. By openly fostering hatred, as well as occupying the Takeshima Islands, they have done a great deal of damage to bilateral relations.

Today in Japan, relations with China are seen as very important. However, for the vast majority of us, relations with South Korea are seen as less than important, if that. Going forward, how relations change, or if they will change, remains to be seen.

Hidesato Sakakibara's answer to Why has the Japanese government never recognized / apologized for crimes committed to South Korea during WW2?