hankyoreh

Lee Chun-sik, the only surviving plaintiff in a damages suit against Nippon Steel over forced labor, wipes tears from his eyes after reading a letter from a grade-schooler during a press conference on the issue of compensation for forced labor victims held in October 2019 to mark the one-year anniversary of a Supreme Court ruling in favor of former forced laborers. (Baek So-ah/The Hankyoreh)

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s unilateral announcement on March 6 of a plan to compensate forced labor victims has plunged Korean society into confusion. The three surviving forced labor victims who prevailed at the South Korean Supreme Court in 2018 have adamantly refused to accept the government’s plan for third-party repayment, in which a Korean foundation pays the money owed by Japanese companies. Rallies against the government continue to be held every weekend at Seoul Plaza, in front of Seoul City Hall.

While Koreans had been hoping for a good faith gesture from Japan, nothing was achieved in the Korea-Japan summit on March 16. The lack of meaningful results was why the press focused on the two leaders drinking boilermakers and eating omurice, a Japanese dish.

Yoon’s free-handed concessions to Japan and his obsession with bold decisions and the future is something Koreans have never experienced before. What on earth could the president have been thinking?

Over the past four weeks, Yoon has explained his proposed solution to the forced labor issue in three official settings for a total of 115 minutes. That includes an 80-minute interview printed in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper on March 15, a 12-minute joint press conference following the Korea-Japan summit, and prepared remarks before a Cabinet meeting on March 21 that lasted for 23 minutes.

The Yomiuri Shimbun’s detailed interview with Yoon ran for nine pages and included a bevy of incredible remarks about “the Supreme Court’s contradictory ruling,” a promise to “not make claims for damages” and the admission that Yoon himself had thought up “third party repayment.” Most shocking of all was that the phrase “forced labor victims” didn’t appear anywhere in Yoon’s long-winded responses.

Nor did Yoon say anything about the forced labor victims in his joint press conference with the Japanese prime minister, which lasted for around 12 minutes. He did address the topic very briefly during the course of his very long remarks (the longest on record) before a Cabinet meeting on March 21, which were broadcast live on television.

“The government will do its best to heal the wounds of the forced labor victims and their bereaved families,” Yoon said, in a sentence that took exactly six seconds to read.

The issue of compensation for forced labor, which has become a central issue in Korea-Japan relations, began when Koreans who performed slave labor for Japanese companies during the colonial period launched a legal battle to reclaim their human rights after being neglected by both the Korean and Japanese governments.

Their legal campaign for compensation from Nippon Steel began in Japan in 1997. After repeated setbacks, the plaintiffs’ ultimately achieved victory at the South Korean Supreme Court in October 2018.

Kohki Abe, professor of international relations at Meiji Gakuin University, had the following to say about the Supreme Court’s ruling (the one Yoon described as “contradictory”) in an interview with the Hankyoreh.

“We need to confront our unjust past behaviors, and in particular the problems that arose during the colonial period, not only for Korea-Japan relations but also for a peaceful and sustainable order in East Asia. The Korean Supreme Court’s ruling offered a legal perspective on the need to prioritize human dignity.”

“The victims’ voices were very powerful,” Abe stressed.

After more than 20 years of litigation against Nippon Steel, Lee Chun-sik, aged 100, is the only one of the four plaintiffs in his suit still alive. After Japan adopted retaliatory measures against Korea in 2019, including export controls, following the Supreme Court’s ruling, Lee tearfully lamented that his lawsuit must not bring harm to Korea.

Korean elementary school students wrote comforting letters to Lee. “It breaks my heart to see you blaming yourself [for the harm] rather than Japan. You should be happy, instead of feeling guilty,” one student wrote.

This historical dispute can’t be fundamentally solved until Japan, as the aggressor, has a change of heart. That’s apparent to everyone, including elementary students — everyone but Yoon, I guess.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]