S Korea seeks to end dispute
SOUTH Korea said yesterday that its companies would compensate people forced to work under Japan’s 19101945 occupation, seeking to end a dispute that has undercut US-led efforts to present a unified front against China and North Korea.
The proposal was welcomed in Tokyo but faced an immediate backlash from some victims and from South Korea’s main opposition party, who accused the government of capitulating to Japan. US President Joe Biden, whose administration has pressed its two allies to reconcile, hailed the announcement as “groundbreaking”.
A Japanese government source close to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters the US had been pressing for reconciliation but that a main factor that triggered a push by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for reconciliation was the geopolitical threat from North Korea.
The disagreements over labour and women forced into Japanese military brothels have bedevilled ties between the neighbours for decades.
Under the plan, South Korea would compensate former forced labourers through an existing public foundation funded by private-sector companies, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin told a briefing.
“The soured South KoreaJapan relations should no longer be neglected, and we need to end the vicious cycle for the national interest, for the people,” Park said.
He said he hoped Japan would respond sincerely, including by “implementing its previous public statements expressing remorse and apology”.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he welcomed the proposal and would work closely with Yoon.
Japanese companies will not be expected to make any payments under the plan but would not be blocked from donating if they wanted to, said Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi. “We welcome this as a step that returns Japan-South Korea relations to a healthy one,” he said.
A Japanese government source told Reuters that Japan and South Korea were preparing for a visit by Yoon to Tokyo by the end of March. The two governments were considering arranging the visit on March 16-17, the Kyodo news agency reported.
Poor relations between the two have been a worry for the US as it seeks to present a unified front against the rising power of China and threats from North Korea’s expanding missile and nuclear arsenal. Biden hailed “a groundbreaking new chapter of co-operation and partnership between two of the US’s closest allies ... a critical step to forge a future for the Korean and Japanese people that is safer, more secure, and more prosperous”.
Relations plunged to their lowest point in decades after South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2018 ordered Japanese firms to pay reparations to former forced labourers. Fifteen South Koreans have won such cases, but none has been compensated. Only three of those plaintiffs are still alive. Overall there are fewer than 1 300 living victims of forced labour in South Korea, according to media estimates.
Japan has said compensation was settled under a 1965 treaty, and Hayashi said his government’s stance had not changed.
When Seoul first raised its proposal in January, it sparked a backlash from victims and their families because it did not include contributions from Japanese companies, including those ordered by South Korean courts to make reparations. About a dozen protesters demonstrated outside as Park made the announcement.
“Today’s humiliating resolution is a result of (the South Korean government’s) consistently low posture towards the Japanese government,” representatives of some victims said.
Some of the 15 plaintiffs say they will reject the government plan, setting the stage for more legal battles.
“It’s not a proper apology,” Yang
Geum-deok, one of the victims, said.
The main opposition Democratic Party denounced the plan as “submissive diplomacy”.
The South Korean companies include KT&G Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) and other companies that benefited from a 1965 treaty between South Korea and Japan.
KT&G said it was monitoring the discussion on compensation and planned to faithfully co-operate in implementing the agreements. Kepco said it would review the issue.
Posco holdings said it would consider how to support the intent of the government’s announcement. Asked whether Japanese companies would pitch in to compensate, Park said both Japanese and South Korean businesses were considering a plan to contribute.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said as part of the deal Seoul and Tokyo had tentatively agreed to create a separate “future youth fund”.