.SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea moved toward further developing binds with its conventional opponent Japan on Monday, declaring an arrangement to repay Koreans who performed constrained work during Tokyo’s pilgrim decide that doesn’t need Japanese organizations to add to the restitutions.
The strategy is in line with conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol’s efforts to strengthen security cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington in order to better deal with North Korea’s nuclear threats and repair strained ties with Japan. It was quickly hailed by President Joe Biden as “a groundbreaking new chapter” of cooperation between two of the closest allies of the United States.
The plan from South Korea, which relies on money raised in South Korea, provoked immediate domestic opposition from supporters of former forced laborers. They have requested a fresh apology from the Japanese government and direct compensation from Japanese businesses.
Concerns about Japan’s brutal rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, when hundreds of thousands of Koreans were mobilized as forced laborers for Japanese companies or sex slaves at Tokyo’s military-run brothels during World War II, have long complicated ties between Seoul and Tokyo.
The survivors of forced labor are in their nineties and already deceased. Only three of the 15 victims who were the subject of court rulings in 2018 in South Korea that required two Japanese companies, Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to compensate them are still alive, and all of them are in their 90s.
During a televised news conference, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin stated that the victims would receive compensation through a local state-run foundation that would be supported by donations from the general public. He said South Korea trusts that Japanese organizations would likewise make willful commitments to the establishment.
I believe the glass is more than half full of water if we compare it to a glass of water. Based on Japan’s sincere response, “we expect that the glass will be filled further moving forward,” Park stated.
Yoon referred to the South Korean move as “a determination to move toward future-oriented Korea-Japan ties” later on Monday. According to Yoon’s office, he said that both governments must work together to help their relations enter a new era.
Officials in South Korea did not specify which businesses would support the foundation. However, the chairperson of the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, Shim Kyu-sun, stated in January that the funds for the reparations would come from South Korean businesses that had benefited from a treaty that normalized relations between Seoul and Tokyo in 1965.
Concerns about Japan’s brutal rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, when hundreds of thousands of Koreans were mobilized as forced laborers for Japanese companies or sex slaves at Tokyo’s military-run brothels during World War II, have long complicated ties between Seoul and Tokyo.
The survivors of forced labor are in their nineties and already deceased. Only three of the 15 victims who were the subject of court rulings in 2018 in South Korea that required two Japanese companies, Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to compensate them are still alive, and all of them are in their 90s.
During a televised news conference, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin stated that the victims would receive compensation through a local state-run foundation that would be supported by donations from the general public. He stated that South Korea expects voluntary contributions to the foundation from Japanese businesses as well.
I believe the glass is more than half full of water if we compare it to a glass of water. We expect that the glass will be additionally filled pushing ahead in view of Japan’s true reaction,” Park said.
Yoon referred to the South Korean move as “a determination to move toward future-oriented Korea-Japan ties” later on Monday. According to Yoon’s office, he said that both governments must work together to help their relations enter a new era.
Officials in South Korea did not specify which businesses would support the foundation. However, the chairperson of the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, Shim Kyu-sun, stated in January that the funds for the reparations would come from South Korean businesses that had benefited from a treaty that normalized relations between Seoul and Tokyo in 1965.
Economic aid and loans totaling hundreds of millions of dollars were provided by Tokyo to Seoul as part of the 1965 agreement. These funds were utilized in development projects carried out by major South Korean businesses, such as POSCO, which is now a global steel giant. If an official request is made, POSCO said on Monday that it will seriously consider making a donation to the foundation.
In 2019, Japan imposed export restrictions on chemicals essential to the semiconductor industry in South Korea as a retaliation for South Korea’s court-ordered compensation for Japanese companies. Japan maintains that the 1965 treaty addressed all wartime compensation issues.
South Korea, then represented by Yoon’s liberal ancestor Moon Jae-in, blamed Japan for weaponizing exchange and therefore took steps to end a tactical knowledge imparting consent to Tokyo, a significant image of their three-way security collaboration with Washington.
In the face of confrontations with China and North Korea, U.S. efforts to strengthen cooperation with its two key Asian allies were complicated by their rivalry. “Our countries are stronger — and the world is safer and more prosperous — when we stand together,” Biden said in his statement, adding that he looks forward to maintaining the trilateral ties.
After North Korea tested-launched a barrage of missiles, some of which are nuclear-capable, and adopted an escalatory nuclear doctrine last year, concerns about strained ties between Seoul and Tokyo have grown in both countries.
For a joint exercise with South Korean warplanes, the United States flew a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber to the Korean Peninsula on Monday. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he stands by Japan’s previous expression of regret and apologies over its colonial wrongdoing, but that the restoration of trade ties is a separate issue.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Japanese foreign minister, told reporters that Japan “appreciates” the South Korean announcement as a step toward restoring good ties, but that it does not require contributions from Japanese businesses.
When asked about South Korea’s inability to ensure that Japanese businesses contribute to the compensation of forced laborers, Park, the foreign minister, stated that he does not anticipate Japan’s government to prevent “voluntary donations” from the country’s civil sector.
The Japanese and South Korean trade ministries simultaneously announced plans for talks to reestablish trade relations later on Monday. In response to the Japanese trade restrictions, the South Korean Trade Ministry said it had decided to put off filing a dispute with the World Trade Organization.
The government’s plan was criticized as a diplomatic surrender by former forced laborers, their supporters, and liberal opposition lawmakers. Around 20 to 30 activists gathered near Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, yelling slogans like “We condemn (the Yoon government)” and “Withdraw (the announcement).”
A plaintiff’s attorney, Lim Jae-sung, referred to the South Korean plan as an “absolute win by Japan, which insists it cannot spend 1 yen” on forced laborers. He stated that lawyers would proceed with steps to liquidate the assets of the Japanese companies in South Korea in order to secure the reparations.
The Democratic Party, the main liberal party in opposition, urged Yoon to immediately halt what it referred to as “a humiliating diplomacy” toward Japan and withdraw its plan.
The opposition to the announcement made by the government casts doubt on the likelihood of resolving the disputes. A foundation funded by Japan to compensate Korean women who were forced to work as sex slaves during World War II was disbanded without the consent of the victims when Moon’s Democratic Party was in power.
According to Bong Young-shik, a specialist at Seoul’s Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies, “there is no magic solution that can satisfy everyone,” Yoon has likely decided to press ahead with steps to ease disputes with Japan in order to strengthen the alliance with the United States. According to him, Yoon probably felt pressured to increase defenses against the growing missile threats from North Korea.
According to Choi Eun-mi, a Japan expert at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in South Korea, there are “fundamental” disagreements with Japan regarding the 2018 court rulings, which makes it obvious that a third-party reimbursement of forced laborers is the only viable option for South Korea.
