Strained South Korea–Japan ties are frequently attributed to the use and abuse of history by national leaders. This article considers a more bottom-up explanation by examining how Korean civil society is taking three different pathways to exert influence on bilateral relations. First, non-governmental organizations are expanding domestic and international awareness of grievances regarding Japan's 1910–1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Second, activists are pushing court cases in attempts to change legal interpretations and government policies. Third, certain civic groups demand maximalist positions on history and stigmatize cooperation with Tokyo. While influential over Korean public opinion, these efforts win few hearts and minds in Japan and complicate productive diplomacy. With particular attention to the 2015 Korea–Japan agreement for “comfort women” survivors and the 2018 South Korean Supreme Court decisions on wartime labor, this article unpacks the relationship between activist Korean civil society and historical reconciliation with Japan, offering implications for foreign policy and state-society relations.

韩日关系紧张通常归因于国家领导人利用和滥用历史。本文通过考察韩国民间社会如何通过三种不同途径对双边关系施加影响，考虑了一种更自下而上的解释。首先，非政府组织正在扩大国内和国际对日本 1910-1945 年朝鲜半岛殖民化的不满意识。其次，活动家正在推动法庭案件，试图改变法律解释和政府政策。第三，某些公民团体要求在历史上采取极端主义立场，抹黑与东京的合作。尽管这些努力对韩国公众舆论有影响，但在日本却很少赢得人心，并使富有成效的外交变得复杂。