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Forced labor victim Lee Chun-sik breaks into tears during a reading of a letter from an elementary school student during a press conference calling for Japan to provide compensation and a proper apology in Seoul on Oct. 30. (Baek So-ah, staff photographer)

On Oct. 30, 95-year-old Lee Chun-sik, a victim of forced labor under Nippon Steel, was sitting at a press conference at the office of MINBYUN—Lawyers for a Democratic Society, in Seoul’s Seocho District. The press conference had been organized by MINBYUN and a group called Joint Action for Resolution of the Forced Labor Mobilization Issue and Past Issues with Japan.

On Oct. 30, 2018, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that Nippon Steel must pay compensation to the victims of forced labor. A year has passed since then, but the victims haven’t seen any compensation. Japanese companies have refused to comply with the court order because of interference by the Japanese government. Instead, this has led to retaliatory export controls by Japan and Seoul’s decision to terminate its General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) to share intelligence with Japan, shoving the two countries’ relationship into the contentious mire of historical, economic, and security issues.

Lee heard a reading of a letter he had received from an elementary school student in Incheon: “On the news, you apologized to us, but this isn’t your fault, it’s the fault of Japan for conscripting you. The countries apologized to each other, but they haven’t apologized to the victims. So you shouldn’t cry or thank anyone. Make sure you stay in good health and good spirits, OK?” The whole time Lee was listening, he kept wiping tears from his bloodshot eyes.

The only way to ensure the victims receive the compensation ordered by the Supreme Court and to end the complex dispute affecting South Korea-Japan relations is for the two sides to reach a compromise about implementing the court’s ruling about forced labor.

South Korea is holding to its principle of respecting the Supreme Court’s ruling that Japanese companies must pay compensation, while Japan is adamant that its companies must not suffer damage since all outstanding claims were resolved by an agreement concluded by the two countries in 1965. While Japan rejected the “one plus one” proposal made by the South Korean government in June — the proposal to create a fund to which South Korean and Japanese companies could make voluntary donations — reports indicate that the two sides have recently been discussing a number of variations on that theme.

These are some of the ideas that have reportedly been mooted so far: South Korea pays the victims compensation after Japan offers an apology; South Korea pays compensation and then asks Japanese companies for reimbursement; Japanese companies pay compensation and are then compensated by South Korea; South Korean and Japanese companies pay compensation to the plaintiffs whose lawsuits have already been settled by the Supreme Court, and then South Korea provides a remedy for victims whose trials are still pending or who haven’t filed a lawsuit.

But none of those ideas have apparently reached the stage where a concrete proposal is being discussed. Some of them are at odds with the spirit of the Supreme Court’s order for Japanese compensation; there are questions about the legal feasibility of claiming reimbursement; and some aspects aren’t acceptable to the Japanese.

On Oct. 28, the Japanese media reported that Tokyo had drafted a proposal to create a fund, nominally for “economic cooperation,” and have Japanese companies donate to that. Some analysts think that Japan deliberately leaked this proposal in order to gauge South Korea’s reaction. If adopted, this proposal would weaken the “compensatory” nature of the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling with the label of “economic cooperation” while allowing Japan to maintain its basic stance that the issue of forced labor was resolved through the claims agreement.

South Korea-Japan relations will soon be facing more challenges: the GSOMIA agreement will be officially terminated on Nov. 23, and the victims of forced labor are planning to sell off assets seized from Japanese companies around the end of the year. The victims have been moving forward with asset liquidation since the Japanese companies refused to pay compensation.

In the lawsuit against Nippon Steel (Lee Chun-sik is a plaintiff in that lawsuit), the Pohang branch of the Daegu District Court seized 194,794 shares of PNR stock, worth 765 million won (US$659,341), from Nippon Steel. This past July, the court sent the company an official questionnaire as part of the liquidation process, but so far it hasn’t received a response.

“The questionnaire has already reached Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but there’s no way for us to ascertain its delivery status inside Japan. If the questionnaire is returned in three or four months, we could regard that as the company waiving its right to defend [against the liquidation],” said an official with the Daegu District Court.

The Japanese government’s stance is that, if Japanese companies’ assets are harmed by the liquidation, it will take harsher retaliatory measures than before, which is raising concerns that even more trouble is in store for South Korea-Japan relations. Even so, many think that South Korea should stick to its guns while seeking a solution instead of rushing to cobble together a compromise.

“We have to find a solution to the forced labor issue that respects the Supreme Court’s decision, provides the victims with a meaningful remedy, and takes into account the future of South Korea-Japan relations. Given the major gap between South Korea and Japan, I don’t think this is an issue that can be resolved in the short term. Unless we take the time to find a proper solution, the backlash will be even worse,” a South Korean government official said.

By Park Min-hee and Jang Ye-ji, staff reporters, and Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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