Korea, Japan urged to form foundation for slave workers

South Korean Foreign Minister Lee Dong-won, third from right, and his Japanese counterpart Shiina Etsusaburo, right, participate in a signing ceremony of the Korea-Japan Basic Relations Treaty in Japan's Prime Minister's office on June 22, 1965. / Korea Times file

By Park Ji-won

South Korean and Japanese experts urged the two countries' governments and firms to form a joint foundation that could resolve legal disputes over the compensation of South Korean citizens who were victims of forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation.

Diplomatic tensions between the two countries are escalating surrounding the matter with no signs of improvement.

South Korea's Supreme Court in October ordered Japanese companies to compensate South Korean forced labor victims, stating their right to reparations was not terminated by a 1965 Korea-Japan treaty that normalized diplomatic ties. The court ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay 100 million won ($87,680) each to four South Koreans plaintiffs for their wartime forced labor. The court also made a similar decision in November, ordering another Japanese company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to pay 80 million won each to 28 South Koreans. The South Korean government said it respects the decision made by the judiciary.

Tokyo immediately reacted to the decision saying it is “regrettable” and “unacceptable” urging Seoul to take steps to uphold the 1965 treaty that resumed diplomatic relations. Japan said it had already paid compensation based on the 1965 treaty by providing economic aid worth $500 million. The treaty says the two countries hope to resolve compensation issues between citizens of the two countries. The money was spent on rebuilding South Korea's infrastructure and economy after it was ravaged by the 1950-53 Korean War.

Some experts worry that it might be difficult to settle the dispute under Japan's present administration run by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. They believe it will take some time to resolve the issues due to differences in interpretation of the historical relationship between the two countries.

“The younger generation, grandsons and granddaughters of the participants of World War II, are rising in importance in Japanese society. When you meet them, they have a different sense of responsibility or burden when talking about history,” Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told The Korea Times, implying that Japan's younger generations feel less responsibility over what the country did in the past during its occupation of Korea.

Several experts, professors, civic activists and researchers claimed the formation of a two-plus-two foundation would be a good preliminary move to ease diplomatic tensions surrounding historical issues.

Former South Korean Ambassador to Japan Shin Gak-soo insisted on a three-way foundation consisting of the South Korean government, the firms that used the Japanese fund in the past as well as related Japanese firms required to compensate victims, citing Germany's Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future.

“The desirable way to resolve the issue is that three parties, for example, the South Korean and Japanese governments and South Korean firms, build a fund to compensate victims,” Shin was quoted as saying by Newsis, a local news agency.

“If Japan voluntarily participates in the fund, it is hard to say the Korea-Japan treaty was violated. But Japan should politically decide to do so as Japan is now preventing Japanese firms from compensating victims.”

Yang Kee-ho, a professor of Japanese studies at SungKongHoe University, claimed in local newspaper Kukmin Ilbo that South Korean and Japanese firms and governments can form a foundation to financially support forced labor victims. Later, the two countries can form a joint committee in which the governments and representatives of the public sectors all participate so they can carry out fact-finding missions, support victims and conduct studies.

Kim Min-chul, a researcher at the Center for Historical Truth and Justice, one of the key supporting organizations of the plaintiffs, also claimed the South Korean government should push for the formation of a two-plus-two foundation during an international seminar, which was co-hosted by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation in December, the themes of which were victims of massacres, atomic bombings and forced mobilization.

He said a two-plus-two foundation could overcome the limitations of the present foundation and lay the political groundwork for Japan's possible participation.

However, some experts expressed worries that the South Korean government's unilateral move could backfire on the country.

“If the South can ask Japan to compensate victims, then Japan can do the same. Tokyo also can launch a suit to ask for compensation on their properties in South Korea,” said a source who wished to remain anonymous.

Another source familiar with the matter also urged the South Korean government to have an established principle that remains consistent regardless of regime change before asking for something from Japan, so Tokyo and the international community can trust the South Korean government.