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Members of the Gwangju-based Citizens Association on Imperial Japan’s Labor Mobilization hold a press conference on Aug. 4, 2022, criticizing the Japanese government for paying out 931 won (US[%%IMAGE1%%]
.71) to a Korean victim of wartime forced labor. (courtesy the Citizens Association)

After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol mentioned Japan’s sovereignty during a press conference marking his 100th day in office, the Citizens Association on Imperial Japan’s Labor Mobilization said Wednesday that Yoon’s expression of concern for the sovereignty of the aggressor country was “pro-Japanese and offensive.” Yoon had been referring to the issue of whether assets held by Japanese companies should be forcibly liquidated to provide compensation to Koreans who were pressed into labor during Japan’s colonial rule.

“The judicial ruling that awarded damages to victims of forced labor and the execution of that ruling are matters of judicial sovereignty that fall entirely under Korea’s judicial system. There is absolutely no reason to bring up the question of Japanese sovereignty here. The Korean president ought to be defending the Korean Constitution, rather than worrying about Japan and what the Japanese might think,” the civic group said.

The issue traces back to a damages lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court by five plaintiffs (only two of whom are still alive), including 93-year-old Yang Geum-deok, who lives in Gwangju. Yang was conscripted into the Korean Women’s Volunteer Labor Corps, which put her to work at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan between 1944 and 1945.

The Supreme Court ruled on Nov. 29, 2018, that the plaintiffs should each be paid 100 million-150 million won (US$75,700-US$113,600) in damages, but Mitsubishi has shown no interest in honoring the ruling.

With the goal of helping two of the plaintiffs — Yang Geum-deok and Kim Seong-ju — receive the damages they are owed, their legal representatives have seized two trademark rights (for Yang) and two patent rights (for Kim) held in Korea by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and are taking steps to liquidate those rights.

“The Korean Supreme Court has already ruled about the issue of forced labor, and the creditors will be compensated according to law. At the moment, however, we’re carefully exploring ways for creditors to be compensated without provoking the clash over sovereignty that Japan is worried about while the ruling is being carried out,” Yoon said during the press conference on Wednesday.

By Jung Dae-ha, Gwangju correspondent

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