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South Korea to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forces labor
The proposal was welcomed in Tokyo but faced immediate backlash from some victims and South Korea’s main opposition party, who accused the government of capitulating to Japan, according to Reuters.
Under the plan, South Korea would compensate former forced laborers through an existing public foundation funded by private-sector companies, Foreign Minister Park Jin told a briefing. “The soured South Korea-Japan 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 hopes Japan responds sincerely, including by “implementing its previous public statements expressing remorse and apology.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he welcomed the proposal and said he would work closely with Yoon. 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 laborers. Fifteen South Koreans have won such cases, but none has been compensated.
Japan has maintained the compensation issue was settled under the 1965 treaty, and Hayashi said his government’s stance had not changed.
The row spilled over into a trade dispute, with Tokyo tightening curbs on exports to South Korea of high-tech materials used in smartphone displays and chips.