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| President Yoon Suk-yeol takes questions from reporters during a press conference marking his 100 days in office at the presidential office in Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis |
Verdict expected soon on liquidation of Japanese assets over forced labor ― Tokyo's red line
By Jung Min-ho
Despite the wartime forced labor issue standing in the way of Korea-Japan relations, President Yoon Suk-yeol remains optimistic about the prospects of improving bilateral relations.
"I believe the governments and the people of both countries can come up with a reasonable solution," Yoon said at Wednesday's press conference marking his 100 days in office.
"When the two countries strengthen their future-oriented relations, they can resolve their issues in the past amicably and promptly, through concession and understanding. If there's no future for them, why would they put the past behind them?"
His remarks come just two days after he called the country a neighbor that Korea should join forces with to protect their shared values, such as freedom and human rights, in his Liberation Day speech.
Sooner or later, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether to liquidate the assets of Japanese companies here to compensate the forced labor victims soon ― a "red line" set by Tokyo. Despite little progress in talks among all concerned parties over the past month, the president hinted that there might be a breakthrough.
"We are pondering how to compensate the victims without causing it to clash with the issue of Japan's sovereignty. I'm optimistic about that," Yoon said. "During the NATO summit (in Madrid), I met Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, together with whom we had talks with U.S. (President Joe Biden), and laid the foundation for the two countries' future-oriented relations."
In 2018, the Supreme Court ordered two Japanese companies ― Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal ― to pay compensation to the victims of forced labor during Japan's colonial rule (1910-45). What's currently pending in that court is whether to seize their assets here to implement the decision, which involves sensitive diplomatic issues and possibly an international treaty violation. Japan says the issue was settled as part of the 1965 agreement, under which it provided Korea with $300 million in grants and $200 million in lending. However, many victims rejected the claim and took their issues to the court individually.
On the surface, the prospects of resolving the issue amicably seem bleak. A council formed a month ago over the issue has made little progress ― if any ― so far. Some victims refused to participate in the talks, urging the court to seize the Japanese assets immediately.
But following Yoon's Liberation Day speech, an official at the presidential office expressed optimism, telling reporters that Japanese authorities have shown their willingness to work it out recently.
Yoon's comments at the media conference suggest that his administration is perhaps trying to find a solution with business leaders instead of with the Japanese government. One idea proposed by some experts is to raise money from Korean companies that had benefited from the treaty and the Japanese ones that expect obvious and imminent benefits from their improved ties.
According to a poll released Tuesday by the Korea Enterprises Federation, 57 percent of the representatives of 207 companies surveyed said they would support the efforts to improve relations with Japan and cooperate economically, while only 6.8 percent said they would be against the idea.
But politically, the responses are more polarized and complicated. In another survey released in April by the Federation of Korean Industries, 74.9 percent of the 1,000 respondents said that the government should step up its efforts to improve relations with Japan, while 25.1 percent said it would be unnecessary. In the same poll, 50.4 percent said that the Japanese government should apologize to the forced labor victims and compensate them with a fund jointly collected from Korean and Japanese companies.
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