South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers to hold talks in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23

Posted on : 2019-01-20 16:42 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Bilateral talks unlikely to produce much in the way of clear outcomes
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (left) and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono meeting during the former’s visit to Japan on Dec. 19
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (left) and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono meeting during the former’s visit to Japan on Dec. 19

Attempts are under way to organize bilateral talks between South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in the Swiss town of Davos on Jan. 23.

The NHK network and other Japanese media reported on Jan. 18 that efforts were under way to organize the bilateral talks while the two foreign ministers are attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (Davos Forum). Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the talks were “currently being coordinated.” If the meeting does happen, it will be the first foreign minister talks between the two sides since a South Korean Supreme Court decision in late October ordered a Japanese company to pay compensation for forced conscription of Korean workers during the colonial occupation.

With the two sides vastly at odds over the compensation issue and a controversy over South Korean radar allegedly targeting a Japanese patrol aircraft, the talks appear unlikely to produce much in the way of clear outcomes for now. Kono is expected to reiterate Tokyo’s position that the matter of compensation for forced labor victims was “completely and conclusively resolved” by the 1965 South Korea-Japan Claims Settlement Agreement. He is also likely to press for Seoul to agree to bilateral discussions on the issue. After a South Korean court permitted an application for the seizure of Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal assets in South Korea by legal representatives for forced labor victims, the Japanese government requested “bilateral discussions” on Jan. 9, citing a conflict in interpretations of the Claims Settlement Agreement.

On Jan. 18, attorneys for forced labor victims also submitted a document to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to the effect that compulsory execution may be sought if the company does not agree to discussions on implementation of a recent court judgment. Members of the Japanese civic group Nagoya Association to Support the Korean Women’s Labor Service Corps Members’ Lawsuit Against Mitsubishi visited the company’s head office in Tokyo the same day to deliver a request in the name of attorneys for a Women’s Volunteer Labor Corps case in Gwangju and for forced laborers in Hiroshima. Calling on the company to “create a setting for dialogue to restore the victims’ dignity,” the attorneys warned that they were “prepared to pursue compulsory execution based on the final ruling if no genuine response is received by late February.”

In Nov. 2018, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling ordering Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay compensation to plaintiffs forcibly mobilized to work at an aviation production site in Nagoya and machinery and shipbuilding sites in Hiroshima.

“Kim Joong-gon [a plaintiff and surviving family member of a forced labor victim] is 94 and told me he could die before the matter is resolved,” said Makoto Takahashi, co-representative of the Nagoya Association to Support the Korean Women’s Labor Service Corps Members’ Lawsuit Against Mitsubishi.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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