hankyoreh

Taro Kono

In the days following a cabinet reshuffle by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sept. 11, newly appointed cabinet members have been making hardline statements about South Korea.

When Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s new Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was asked during a press conference on Sept. 13 for his opinion about a South Korean Supreme Court ruling ordering that the victims of forced labor be paid compensation, he said that “Article 2 of our agreement on the right to make claims expressly confirmed that the issue of outstanding property claims has been completely and finally resolved.”

“And so, even if the individual right to make claims has not been completely nullified, that right cannot be remedied, and certainly not by the state,” Motegi said.

That echoes the position of previous Japanese governments, which have not denied the individual right to make claims, while reiterating the current Japanese government’s position that the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling stands in violation of the two countries’ 1965 agreement about the right to make claims.

Motegi also responded to a reporter who asked if he was aware that the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling had argued that even the two countries’ claims agreement could not invalidate individuals’ right to claim restitution for the forced labor they had suffered, which counted as a crime against humanity. “I’m aware of that position, and it’s understandable,” Motegi said.

But Motegi added that “Japan provided South Korea with economic cooperation — namely, US$300 million in grants and US$200 million in loans — in compliance with the claims agreement, and the issue of our two countries’ right to make property claims, and the right of our respective peoples to do so, was completely and finally resolved by that agreement.”

While the Japanese government stresses that it provided US$300 million in grants and US$200 million in loans, those funds were paid not in cash but in services and supplies.

“We’re urging [South Korea] to waste no time in rectifying this violation of international law,” Motegi also said.

Japan’s new Trade and Industry Minister Isshu Sugawara also blamed South Korea for the deterioration in their bilateral relationship during a press conference on the evening of Sept. 11, his first day in the position. “We’re in a very challenging situation that has continued because of a series of negative actions by the Moon administration in South Korea, beginning with the old issue of workers from the Korean Peninsula,” Sugaware said, referring to Koreans forced to work for Japanese companies during the colonial occupation.

Taro Kono, Japan’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was named Minister of Defense in the reshuffle. “We’re seeing a reaction [from South Korea] that I think is rather emotional in terms of our GSOMIA intelligence-sharing agreement and Japan’s handling of exports,” Kono said during a press conference on the evening of Sept. 11.

The assessment in Japan is that Abe’s cabinet reshuffle shows that his hardline stance on South Korea remains unchanged. “Motegi emphasized during his press conference that he won’t give any ground,” Jiji Press said on Sept. 15.

The wire service also reported that an anonymous source in Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, when asked about Abe’s choices of Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, and Trade and Industry Minister, said that the “Office of the Prime Minister will continue to lead the way on foreign policy vis-à-vis South Korea.”

Eighteen of the 19 people on Abe’s cabinet (including Abe himself) are members of either the right-wing organization Nippon Kaigi or the Shinto Political Alliance Diet Members’ Association, according to a report by the Shimbun Akahata, official organ of the Japanese Communist Party.

The only member of the cabinet who doesn’t belong to either of these organizations is Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, but even he visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15 of each year, the anniversary of the end of World War II. Yasukuni Shrine is controversial for honoring the memory of some of Japan’s most infamous war criminals.

Figures who have been involved in past controversy were among those chosen to serve in vice minister positions (which are political appointments in Japan, but not in South Korea).

While serving as Vice Education Minister in June 2017, newly appointed Vice Justice Minister Hiroyuki Yoshiie responded to allegations that Abe had done favors for a school called Kake Gakuen (Abe’s friend sits on the school’s board of directors) by suggesting that the whistleblower may have violated rules about classified materials. Yoshiie was criticized at the time for attempting to muzzle whistleblowers.

Yoshitaka Ito, the new Vice Agriculture Minister, had to retract a remark made last year about Japan’s low birth rate. Ito came under fire after saying he thought couples should have at least three children.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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