Backlash over forced labor compensation hits Yoon ahead of Japan summit

Yang Geum-deok, a surviving victim of wartime forced labor by Japan, speaks during a meeting of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee in, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

President to travel to Tokyo on Thursday

By Nam Hyun-woo

Public backlash on Korea's resolution to compensate victims of wartime forced labor by Japan is weighing heavily on President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is scheduled to sit down with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later this week to discuss ways to improve bilateral ties.

Some victims expressed their rejection of the government's plan, under which Korean victims of Japan's forced labor during World War II will be compensated through a fund run by a public foundation without the direct involvement of the responsible Japanese firms.

In addition, Yoon's job approval ratings are also faltering amid criticisms that Seoul has taken a submissive stance at a time when Tokyo is showing a lukewarm stance to issuing a sincere apology.

On Thursday, Yoon will make a two-day visit to Tokyo and hold a third face-to-face summit with Kishida.

According to the legal representatives of the victims, Monday, Yang Geum-deok and Kim Sung-joo, two survivors who were forced to work at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries factory from 1944-45, sent official documents to Japan stating that they will not accept the compensation made by the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan.

"The bonds, which the clients (Yang and Kim) hold against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, are based on the Supreme Court's 2018 ruling, and they are exercised as the right to claim compensation against Japanese companies' anti-humanitarian illegalities, which were related to the Japanese government's illegal colonial rule," the representatives said in a statement.

"Therefore, the bonds are not a type of claim that can be extinguished by a third party's payment against the creditor's intention."

Along with Yang and Kim, Lee Choon-sik, the only surviving victim who filed compensation against Nippon Steel for his forced labor in 1943, also sent a similar document to the foundation, refusing third-party compensation.

Legal representatives of victims of Japan's wartime forced labor show documents in which they will reject the government's agreement of compensating them through a public fund, after submitting the documents to the fund's foundation in Seoul's Jongno District. Joint Press Corps

Also on Monday, Yang appeared at a meeting of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and stressed her intention to not accept the compensation.

"Even if I have to starve to death, I will not accept that money," Yang said. "What is this government doing? I want to say the president should step down."

The committee meeting was supposed to be attended by lawmakers of both the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) to discuss the appropriateness of the government's third-party compensation plan. However, PPP members of the committee boycotted the meeting, claiming it should be rescheduled after Yoon's summit with Kishida on Thursday.

"In the run-up to the summit, the DPK is not helping the government and inflicting partisan squabbles by inviting Yang to the committee meeting and slandering the government," PPP floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young said.

The DPK slammed the Yoon government for its "submissive stance," and unilaterally passed an Assembly resolution denouncing the third-party compensation plan.

"This is the biggest humiliation and submissive diplomacy since the Korea-Japan treaty of 1910, when Korea lost its sovereignty to Japan," DPK Rep. Cho Jeong-sik said. "With the third-party plan, the government abandoned its own judicial sovereignty by disavowing the ruling."

Against this backdrop, President Yoon's job approval ratings are struggling from the fallout.

According to a Realmeter poll released Monday, Yoon's approval rating stood at 38.9 percent, down four percentage points from a week earlier. During the same period, negative opinions on Yoon's work inched up by 5.7 percentage points to 58.9 percent.

In a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday, Yoon's approval rating remained at 34 percent, suffering a two-percentage-point decline from a week earlier. Among negative respondents, 16 percent indicated the compensation plan as the reason for their disapproval.

As public sentiment turns against Yoon, the presidential office is attempting to calm the backlash by stressing that the compensation plan is aimed at the future prosperity of Korea and that international media reports show favorable reactions to the plan.

A day earlier, the office revealed a YouTube short-form video, in which Yoon said he will take "full responsibility" for his political decisions related to Korea-Japan ties and that he "feels a dire need to revitalize exchanges in the fields of the economy, regional security and culture."

Experts said Yoon has made a difficult choice of facing domestic criticisms in return for Korea's better footing in the global security situation, thus the ball is now in Japan's court as to whether it will show a meaningful response during the upcoming summit.

"With the compensation plan, the Korean government has clearly expressed its intention to take a leading role in resolving the conflict with Japan," said Choi Eun-mi, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. "While the Korean government continues its efforts to heal the scars of the victims, Japan should also show a meaningful response to resolve the conflict."

The Realmeter poll surveyed 2,508 adults from March 6 to 10, and the Gallup Korea poll surveyed 1,002 adults from March 8 to 9. Further details of the surveys are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.