[Editorial] Yoon’s “solution” to forced labor issue is historically regressive

Posted on : 2023-03-07 17:09 KST Modified on : 2023-03-07 17:09 KST
Yoon’s regressive actions here show an utter lack of understanding of the significance of South Korea and Japan’s history
Foreign Minister Park Jin announces the administration’s position on the issue of compensation for victims of Japan’s forced labor mobilization on March 6 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)
Foreign Minister Park Jin announces the administration’s position on the issue of compensation for victims of Japan’s forced labor mobilization on March 6 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

The South Korean government has announced what it’s calling a “solution” to the issue of forced labor mobilization during the Japanese occupation, in which South Korean companies are to cover the costs of compensation to the victims.

Absent from the plan is any involvement in compensation or apology from the Japanese companies responsible. The Japanese Foreign Ministry made no mention of any apology or reflection either, its only response being a frosty reference to “carrying on the content of past statements.”

This tragic and humiliating “solution” turns back the clock on the difficult battle the victims have spent the past decades fighting and the Supreme Court decision through which those efforts had come to fruition.

On Monday, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin announced a plan in which compensation to survivors of forced labor mobilization would be provided by the state-run Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, based on “voluntary contributions” from South Korean companies.

Japan’s only response the same day was a statement by its Foreign Ministry affirming that it would be “carrying on in full the positions of past Cabinets on historical matters,” as well as an announcement that it was starting discussions toward resolving controls on exports to South Korea.

This amounts to a lopsided diplomatic defeat for Seoul, which fully accepted Tokyo’s position that all compensation issues were concluded with a claims settlement agreement reached by the two sides in 1965. Disregarded here was the South Korean Supreme Court ruling acknowledging the illegal nature of Japan’s colonization of Korea and ordering the companies responsible for victimization to pay damages accordingly.

Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, two of the companies responsible, said Monday that they did not intend to implement any corresponding measures.

Commenting on the significance of the “solution” the same day, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said it was a “decision made in order to proceed toward a future-oriented South Korea-Japan relationship.” It is impossible to agree with the government’s claims about this being a “magnanimous decision suited to our national strength” and a “solution directed by South Korea” when the end result is one where South Korea makes all the concessions and Japan gives up nothing.

It is true that cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo is necessary in an uncertain security situation and fast-changing global order. But there are also principles we must never forsake.

The minimum demand shared by people across society, including the victims themselves, was that the companies responsible should apologize and have a hand in the compensation. Even that principle was not upheld in the final, rough-and-ready solution — and for that, we can only speak of the grave historical responsibility that Yoon now bears.

Yoon has referred to historical issues as the “biggest obstacle” to improving relations with Japan and a matter “made worse by past administrations.” On that basis, he has tried to quickly put the forced labor issue to rest by accepting all of Tokyo’s demands, while paying successive visits to Japan and the US to increase trilateral cooperation.

Washington welcomed the move, with President Joe Biden, the secretary of state, and the US ambassador to South Korea all releasing statements that day lauding Seoul’s announcement as “historic.”

This position is a reflection of the US’ own strategic considerations as it attempts to counter China with stronger trilateral solidarity with South Korea and Japan. Yoon, for his part, is focusing solely on coordinating with the US, even if that means violating South Korea’s own principles.

His regressive actions here show an utter lack of understanding of the significance of South Korea and Japan’s history. They deal a devastating blow to the efforts made by the forced labor survivors and by South Korean and Japanese civil society over more than a quarter-century since 1997.

As a diplomatic disaster, it is even worse than the intergovernmental agreement reached on the military sexual slavery issue in 2015. That “resolution” actually did have the Japanese government acknowledging responsibility and taking part in funding, but even that ended up crashing and burning due to its disregard for a victim-centered approach.

History will never forgive this agreement.

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

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