Here is the latest dust up between Korea and Japan:
South Korean foreign ministry spokesman, Noh Kyu-duk, issues a statement on Nov. 29, 2018 in this photo provided by Yonhap News TV. (Yonhap)
The South Korean government urged Japan on Thursday to refrain from “overreacting” to Seoul court rulings against a Japanese firm for wartime forced labor.
“It’s very regrettable that the Japanese government is continuing to respond excessively to our judiciary’s ruling, and (we) call for its restraint,” the foreign ministry’s spokesman, Noh Kyu-duk, said at a press briefing.
He said it’s natural for an administration to respect a court decision in a democracy.
The ministry called in Japan’s ambassador to Seoul, Yasumasa Nagamine, to deliver a direct protest message.
The ambassador did not answer a reporter’s question while entering the ministry building in Seoul.
Hours earlier, the Supreme Court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. to compensate 10 Koreans who worked at its shipyard and other production facilities in Hiroshima and Nagoya in 1944 with no pay and a bereaved family member of another on two separate suits.
The court upheld two appellate court judgments — one that ordered Mitsubishi to disburse 100-120 million won (US$89,000-109,000) to each of four female victims, and the relative, and the other that ordered it to pay 80 million won each to six elderly men.
In Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono immediately described the verdicts as “very regrettable and unacceptable.”
He argued that they run counter to the 1965 pact between the governments of the neighboring countries on normalizing bilateral diplomatic ties. He said all reparation issues related to Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea were settled through the accord. [Yonhap]
You can read the rest at the link, but the 1965 pact signed saw $500 million from Japan given to South Korea. The ROK government at the time could have compensated everyone back then with that money, however it was instead used for the overall development of the country such as improving infrastructure. The money ultimately helped with the country’s economic development at the expense of direct compensation to those effected by Japan’s colonial rule. This is why Japan is so strongly against the court rulings they feel they have already paid compensation.
With that all said when is the ROK government going to launch lawsuits on behalf of victims of North Korea’s kidnappings and provocations in far more recent times than Japan’s colonial rule that began over a century ago?
Perhaps they could sue MacArthur’s estate, since he orchestrated the trials in Japan while everyone was focused on Nuremberg. IIRC no death penalty for anyone and by the late 1950s all sentences had been served or commuted. No compensation was demanded, and number of dead or abused probably approached 6 million. No I am not a MacArthur fan…
setnaffa
6 years ago
Doc,
Wikipedia reports: “Soon after the war, the Allied powers indicted 25 persons as Class-A war criminals, and 5,700 persons were indicted as Class-B or Class-C war criminals by Allied criminal trials. Of these, 984 were initially condemned to death, 920 were actually executed, 475 received life sentences, 2,944 received some prison terms, 1,018 were acquitted, and 279 were not sentenced or not brought to trial. These numbers included 178 ethnic Taiwanese and 148 ethnic Koreans.”
Perhaps they could sue MacArthur’s estate, since he orchestrated the trials in Japan while everyone was focused on Nuremberg. IIRC no death penalty for anyone and by the late 1950s all sentences had been served or commuted. No compensation was demanded, and number of dead or abused probably approached 6 million. No I am not a MacArthur fan…
Doc,
Wikipedia reports: “Soon after the war, the Allied powers indicted 25 persons as Class-A war criminals, and 5,700 persons were indicted as Class-B or Class-C war criminals by Allied criminal trials. Of these, 984 were initially condemned to death, 920 were actually executed, 475 received life sentences, 2,944 received some prison terms, 1,018 were acquitted, and 279 were not sentenced or not brought to trial. These numbers included 178 ethnic Taiwanese and 148 ethnic Koreans.”
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes#War_crimes_trials
Also from the same link: “In 2006, the South Korean government ‘pardoned’ 83 of the 148 convicted Korean war criminals.”
@setneffa
I’m guessing some of the Korean war criminals were DP party family members.
J6, it would seem that way; but I don’t know.
Did the guys from the Bataan Death March who got sent to Japan to work in mines under the threat of death get any kind of compensation from Japan?
Because, you know, if people from the side that won the war don’t get compensation, why should people who didn’t even fight get any?
Ron, the Koreans fought… for the Japanese…
FORCED LABOR
It doesn’t mention fighting anywhere in this post. It talks about forced, slave labor, which is what happened to American POW’s as well.
Setnaffa, thank you for setting me straight. Still not a fan of Mac but that is not an excuse for Googling for facts before typing… 🙄
Doc, you’re still one of my heroes. People on the pointy end of the spear deserve a lot more respect than they get.