SEOUL, South Korea, 6 Mar: South Korea took a step toward improving ties with its traditional rival Japan on Monday, announcing a plan to compensate Koreans who performed forced labor during Tokyo\u2019s colonial rule that doesn\u2019t require Japanese companies to contribute to the reparations.
\nThe plan reflects conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol\u2019s push to mend frayed ties with Japan and solidify security cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo and Washington to better cope with North Korea\u2019s nuclear threats. President Joe Biden quickly hailed it as \u201ca groundbreaking new chapter\u201d of cooperation between two of the United States\u2019 closest allies.
\nThe South Korean plan, which relies on money raised in South Korea, drew immediate, domestic backlash from former forced laborers and their supporters. They\u2019ve demanded direct compensation from the Japanese companies and a fresh apology from the Japanese government.
\nTies between Seoul and Tokyo have long been complicated by grievances related to Japan\u2019s 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\u2019s military-run brothels during World War II.
\nMany forced laborers are already dead and survivors are in their 90s. Among the 15 victims involved in 2018 South Korean court rulings that ordered two Japanese companies \u2014 Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries \u2014 to compensate them, only three are still alive and they are all in their 90s.
\nSouth Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin told a televised news conference the victims would be compensated through a local state-run foundation that would be funded by civilian donations. He said South Korea hopes that Japanese companies would also make voluntary contributions to the foundation.
\n\u201cIf we compare it to a glass of water, I think that the glass is more than half full with water. We expect that the glass will be further filled moving forward based on Japan\u2019s sincere response,\u201d Park said.
\nLater Monday, Yoon called the South Korean step \u201ca determination to move toward future-oriented Korea-Japan ties.\u201d He said both governments must strive to help their relations enter a new era, according to Yoon\u2019s office.
\nSouth Korean officials didn\u2019t elaborate on which companies would finance the foundation. But in January, Shim Kyu-sun, chairperson of the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, which would be handling the reparations, said the funds would come from South Korean companies that benefited from a 1965 Seoul-Tokyo treaty that normalized their relations.
\nThe 1965 accord was accompanied by hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid and loans from Tokyo to Seoul that were used in development projects carried out by major South Korean companies, including POSCO, now a global steel giant. POSCO said Monday that it will actively consider a contribution to the foundation if it receives an official request.
\nJapan insists all wartime compensation issues were settled under the 1965 treaty, and retaliated for the South Korean court-ordered compensation from the Japanese companies by slapping export controls on chemicals vital to South Korea\u2019s semiconductor industry in 2019.
\nSouth Korea, then governed by Yoon\u2019s liberal predecessor Moon Jae-in, accused Japan of weaponizing trade and subsequently threatened to terminate a military intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo, a major symbol of their three-way security cooperation with Washington.
\nTheir feuding complicated U.S. efforts to reinforce cooperation with its two key Asian allies in the face of confrontations with China and North Korea. In his statement, Biden said that he looks forward to continuing to enhance the trilateral ties, adding, \u201cOur countries are stronger \u2014 and the world is safer and more prosperous \u2014 when we stand together.\u201d
\nWorries about strained Seoul-Tokyo ties have grown in both countries, especially after North Korea last year adopted an escalatory nuclear doctrine and test-launched a barrage of missiles, some of them nuclear-capable that place both countries within striking distance.
\nOn Monday, the U.S. flew a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber to the Korean Peninsula for a joint drill with South Korean warplanes. South Korea\u2019s Defense Ministry said in a statement the B-52’s deployment demonstrated the allies\u2019 \u201cdecisive, overwhelming capacities\u201d to deter North Korean aggressions.
\nDuring a parliamentary session on Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he stands by Japan\u2019s previous expression of regrets and apologies over its colonial wrongdoing but said that the restoration of trade ties is a separate issue. AP<\/p>\n
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that Japan \u201cappreciates\u201d the South Korean announcement as a step to restore good ties, but noted that it doesn\u2019t require contributions from the Japanese companies.
\nWhen asked about South Korea\u2019s failure to ensure that the Japanese companies participate in the compensation of forced laborers, Park, the foreign minister, said he doesn\u2019t expect Japan\u2019s government to block \u201cvoluntary donations\u201d by its civil sector.
\nLater Monday, the South Korean and Japanese trade ministries simultaneously announced plans for talks to restore their trade relations. South Korea\u2019s Trade Ministry said it decided to suspend its dispute proceedings with the World Trade Organization over the Japanese trade curbs.
\nFormer forced laborers, their supporters and liberal opposition lawmakers berated the government plan, calling it a diplomatic surrender. About 20-30 activists rallied near Seoul\u2019s Foreign Ministry, blowing horns and shouting slogans, \u201cWe condemn (the Yoon government)\u201d and \u201cWithdraw (the announcement).\u201d
\nLim Jae-sung, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, called the South Korean plan an \u201cabsolute win by Japan, which insists it cannot spend 1 yen\u201d on forced laborers. He said lawyers will press ahead with steps aimed at liquidating the Japanese companies\u2019 assets in South Korea to secure the reparations.
\nThe main liberal opposition Democratic Party called on Yoon to immediately stop what it called \u201ca humiliating diplomacy\u201d toward Japan and withdraw its plan.
\nThe opposition to the government\u2019s announcement cast doubts on the prospects to end the disputes. When the Democratic Party led by Moon was in power, it took steps to dissolve a foundation funded by Japan to compensate Korean women forced to work as sex slaves during World War II because it didn\u2019t have the victims\u2019 consent.
\nDespite the backlash, Yoon has likely decided to press ahead with steps to ease the disputes with Japan to bolster the alliance with the United States because \u201cthere is no magic solution that can satisfy everyone,\u201d said Bong Young-shik, an expert at Seoul\u2019s Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies. He said Yoon likely felt pressure to boost defense against North Korea\u2019s advancing missile threats.
\nChoi Eun-mi, a Japan expert at South Korea\u2019s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said it has been obvious that a third-party reimbursement of forced laborers was the only realistic solution for South Korea because there are \u201cfundamental\u201d disagreements with Japan over the 2018 court rulings.
\n\u201cOne might say that the government hurried toward a solution, but the negotiations have been going on for nearly a year and the plaintiffs would have had most to lose if the issue isn\u2019t resolved now,\u201d Choi said. AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL, South Korea, 6 Mar: South Korea took a step toward improving ties with its traditional rival Japan on Monday, announcing a plan to compensate Koreans who performed forced labor during Tokyo\u2019s colonial rule that doesn\u2019t require Japanese companies to contribute to the reparations. The plan reflects conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol\u2019s push to mend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-212319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212319\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}