The South Korea has announced that it will compensate South Korean workers forced to work for Japanese companies during the Second World War, to resolve one of the most thorny historical issues that have hindered relations with Japan. A government foundation, the minister said Esther Park Jin, will compensate 15 victims who won lawsuits against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel in 2018 through a fund fueled by private sector donations. According to local media reports, the plan does not directly involve the government of Tokyo.
The plan announced by Only provides for a government foundation in the South to compensate the victims and their families, mainly with funds received from national companies under the 1965 agreement to normalize relations with Tokyo. South Korea and Japan are two key regional security allies of the United States, but bilateral ties have long been strained due to historical issues surrounding colonial rule of Tokyo of 1910-45 on the Korean peninsula.
Washington tried to bring the countries to the table, but the situation was unblocked only with the ascent to the presidency of South Korea in May 2022 by Yoon Suk-yeol. Japanese media have also reported that Yoon could visit Tokyo soon, possibly even in the week for a Japan-South Korea baseball game. Hayashi he asked both countries to work together and to “cooperate in addressing the various challenges in the international community”.
Japan has welcomed the South Korean plan considering the decision useful for re-establishing “healthy” ties after years of tensions. “The Tokyo government sees the measures announced by the South Korean government as an effort to restore healthy ties Japan-South Korea after the countries found themselves in a very serious situation due to the 2018 ruling,” said the Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi. In 2018, the Seoul Supreme Court ordered some Japanese companies to pay various compensation payments for forced labor.
US acclaim
President Joe Biden welcomed the compensation plan launched by the South Korea for citizens victims of Japanese militarism as a new chapter of cooperation and partnership between two of the United States‘ closest allies and said he looked forward to strengthening trilateral ties. Korean President Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “are taking a critical step to forge a future for the Korean and Japanese people that is safer, more secure and more prosperous,” Biden said in a statement.
Blinken, historic announcement
US Secretary of State Antony Blink welcomed the plan announced by South Korea to compensate the victims of forced labor of the Japan in wartime, recalling that the two countries are “two of the most important allies of the US and we are inspired by the work they have done to advance their bilateral relations”. Therefore, reads a note, “we welcome today’s historic announcements by the governments of the Republic of Korea and Japan on the conclusion of discussions relating to sensitive historical questions”.
“We applaud President Yoon, il premier Kishida and their respective administrations for their courage and their vision, and we ask the international community to join our recommendation of this momentous achievement”, reads the note which, seen from the US side, represents a turning point to compact two allies into one of the most critical and greatest risk areas to which Washington is devoting more and more attention.
“The trilateral relationship between the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan is central to our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, which is why I, along with other State Department colleagues, have invested so much time, focusing on this key partnership,” he concluded The blinkeager, “also through our regular trilateral dialogues” to continue working “to promote global peace and security”.