President Yoon Pushes for Compromise Measure with Japan to Compensate Wartime Workers
This seems like a good compromise approach that allows these wartime workers to be compensated while allowing Japan to maintain the legality of the 1965 treaty:
“We’re now fully considering a plan that would allow the plaintiffs to receive compensation in a way that doesn’t conflict with the sovereignty issues that the Japanese government is concerned about,” Yoon said.
The Japanese government has long maintained that the issue of claims by former requisitioned workers has been settled under the 1965 Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Cooperation between Japan and the Republic of Korea. Yoon’s reference to “sovereignty issues” is believed to refer to this position.
Yoon appears to envision measures such as subrogation in which a fund is created by Japanese and Korean companies to pay compensation to the plaintiffs.
“The historical issue can be resolved amicably through concessions and understanding,” Yoon said, if Japan and South Korea strengthen future-oriented cooperation. It appears that the South Korean president recognizes the need for compromise between the Japanese government and companies and Korean plaintiffs, but he did not refer to specific steps to be taken.
Yomiuri Shimbun
You can read more at the link, but don’t expect the Korean left to support this. What President Yoon will need to do is make sure this is implemented in a way that the Korean left can’t over turn whenever they win a Presidential election again like they did with the comfort women settlement with Japan once President Moon was elected.
You can read more at the link, but don’t expect the Korean left to support this
Once again, GI Korea twists the facts to fit his right wing narrative,
The idea below was originally Moon’s idea.
Yoon appears to envision measures such as subrogation in which a fund is created by Japanese and Korean companies to pay compensation to the plaintiffs.
But the Japanese rejected the idea because they don’t want to pay a single Yen of compensation.
The Japanese believe they paid all the compensation via the 1965 treaty.
So to ask them goes against what they believe and are saying.
To summarize, it’s not the Korean left that is the issue, but the Japanese.
A more workable solution however would be for Korean companies that received money as a result of the 1965 agreement such as POSCO to pay the money that was originally supposed to go to the laborers as compensation.
It is well known that Pres. Park after receiving the money from Japan mostly spent it on POSCO and the Seoul-Busan Highway, instead of passing them on to the former laborers.
Of course the above is conveniently ignored by both the Korean left and the right.
And here’s the link to a 2019 article for those who love links
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190626002500315
And the excerpt
Touching on his administration’s latest offer of a specific measure to resolve the wartime forced labor issue, he said it’s a “viable option” in terms of efforts for a victims-oriented resolution.
Seoul has proposed creating a joint fund by firms of the two nations to compensate the Korean victims of the forced labor during World War II.
Tokyo rejected this, however, reiterating its assertion that all reparation-related matters were settled in a 1965 bilateral treaty on economic cooperation and diplomatic ties between the neighboring countries.
Ha ha ha.. GI Korea, why don’t you post Japan’s responses to Yoon’s one-sided olive branch peace approaches to Japan?
Japan flatly refuses to even meet with him. Conditions spelled out to him if he wants a meeting with the Japan head:
1) Korea to apologize for the 2018 radar incident with the Japanese plane and Korean warship and promise to Japan that this will never happen again.
2) Korea to recognize Takeshima islands as a Japanese territory. And Korea to stop sending research ships to the areas around the island.
3) Korea to stop the selling of assets of Japanese companies to compensate the war laborers, and cancel Korea’s supreme court ruling – the same supreme court which says the state and court shall remain separate, which is also baked into South Korea’s constitution. To do this, Yoon must change the national constitution and strike down the Supreme court which will be considered a highly undemocratic move just to appease Japan, in exchange for a meeting. I’d like to see what will happen if he tries to do that.
Those are the basic conditions that Yoon needs to meet before Japan will even consider sitting down with him. And no amount of slobbering and whimperings from Yoon will be enough for Japan to budge.
Good luck Yoon. You’ve certainly made Korea proud, with all that humility and sacrifice. I’m sure the extreme right-wing ruling party of Japan is just laughing it up right about now. This is the same tough Japanese ruling party that does absolutely nothing when the Russian and Chinese naval fleets sail right through the Japanese waters every day. Scared Japan just watches silently while whimpering, but no words for the Chinese and Russians.
” Korea to apologize for the 2018 radar incident with the Japanese plane and Korean warship and promise to Japan that this will never happen again.
<snip>
This is the same tough Japanese ruling party that does absolutely nothing when the Russian and Chinese naval fleets sail right through the Japanese waters every day. Scared Japan just watches silently while whimpering, but no words for the Chinese and Russians.”
China and Russia do not pretend to be allies of Japan. Provocations are to be expected. The RoK, on the other hand, is supposed to be on the same team, so of course they get a different response than China and Russia would get.
To add to Korean Man’s comment, here’s what happened after Yoon’s grand offer to the Japanese
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220815002200315
Kishida sent the offering to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo earlier in the day and his two Cabinet ministers visited the shrine seen as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
“The government expresses deep disappointment and regret that responsible leaders of Japan’s government and parliament again sent the offering or repeated their visits to the Yasukuni Shrine,” South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
South Korea also urged Japanese leaders to face up to history and demonstrate their humble introspection and genuine self-reflection with action for the past history.
It looks like the same thing that happened under the Moon administration.
Where is the improved Korea-Japan relationship that the Yoon administration was supposed to usher in?
You would think that for someone who is intent on improving Korea-Japan relations, Yoon would get more creative instead of rehashing former Pres. Moon’s ideas.