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Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga

The Japanese government reaffirmed its examination of “concrete response measures” in retaliation to a request to seize the South Korean assets of Japanese businesses that are refusing to pay compensation to victims of forced labor conscription during the colonial occupation.

“We are considering our response as we observe the response from South Korea,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in a Jan. 7 press conference.

“The relevant ministries are discussing matters once again based on orders from the Prime Minister. We will be examining concrete measures for a resolute response,” he declared.

In an appearance the day before on the NHK program “Sunday Discussion,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had “ordered the relevant ministries to take concrete measures toward resolute action based on international law.”

Suga went on to say, “It is extremely dismaying that these actions by South Korea that are deleterious to Japan-South Korea relations have continued.”

“Japan-South Korea relations are in a very difficult situation, and we will continue asking South Korea to respond appropriately based on our country’s consistent position,” he said.

Suga declined to mention the specifics of the concrete response measures, saying only that they were “being discussed by the relevant ministries.” The response measures Tokyo is considering appear to refer to arbitration according to the dispute settlement procedures agreed upon by the two sides in their 1965 Claims Settlement Agreement.

The Sankei Shimbun newspaper noted “remarks within the Japanese Cabinet supporting an increase in tariffs on South Korean products along similar lines to the approach adopted by US President Donald Trump.”

Addressing the two sides’ disagreement over whether the South Korean Navy’s Gwanggaeto the Great destroyer aimed its fire-control radar at a Japanese patrol aircraft, Suga said, “Both countries agree on the need for dialogue, and we are in discussions toward working-level talks.”　

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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