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| Cheong Wa Dae |
By Park Ji-won
Cheong Wa Dae has met with representatives of the victims of forced labor under Japanese colonial rule in a move to improve strained relations with Japan, according to sources. "The presidential office has met with the legal representatives of the plaintiffs who were forced to work during Japanese colonial rule," an official familiar with the matter told The Korea Times, Thursday, but declined to elaborate further.
This is the first time the presidential office has directly met with representatives of the plaintiffs, and the move is aimed at breaking an impasse between South Korea and Japan before the planned G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, another official said.
There are concerns that Japanese Prime Minister Abe may refuse to hold a summit with President Moon Jae-in because of his displeasure with the Korean Supreme Court's ruling in favor of the victims of forced labor. It is unknown what might be a satisfactory outcome for Tokyo as it claims all compensation issues were settled under the 1965 agreement that normalized diplomatic relations.
The Supreme Court ordered Japanese firms to compensate the victims in October. On Monday, Tokyo called for Seoul to come up with "proper" measures asking it to form the panel based on the two countries' accord in 1965. The government has remained silent over the matter in a possible strategic move to deal with the issue.
After the ruling, Moon said he respected it and the priority was "healing" the victims. A high-ranking government official directly involved in the forced labor issue said, "The issue cannot be resolved without the consent of victims. Measures that the government can take without their consent are limited."
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono on the sidelines of the Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Thursday. They discussed solutions to the forced labor problem. It is expected Kono continued to claim Seoul should form the arbitration panel to settle the issue, which Kang has said the government is "looking prudently into."
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