hankyoreh

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pays his respects to the family members of the late Lee Hee-ho

Amid vehement objections by the Japanese government to a South Korean Supreme Court ruling that the right of individual victims of forced labor conscription under imperial Japan to demand compensation did not expire with the South Korea-Japan Claims Settlement Agreement, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama insisted that Japan “should agree to provide compensation in accordance with the final ruling.”

Appearing in a discussion on China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the “East Asian community of destiny” held on the morning of June 13 by the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Jong-kul, Hatoyama said, “While people such as Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono have made statements denouncing the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling on conscripted workers, it is not the case that the matter [of compensation] was ‘completely and finally’ resolved with the South Korea-Japan Claims Settlement Agreement.”

“Japan needs to take steps toward a concrete resolution by agreeing to provide compensation [in accordance with] the final ruling, while South Korea should create a foundation to provide restitution to victims who have not pursued legal action,” he said.

Hatoyama also commented on a 2015 agreement between South Korea and Japan on the issue of “comfort women” drafted into sexual slavery to the Japanese military.

“The Japanese government used the term ‘final and irreversible,’ but that was a high-pressure stance that suggested to the South Korean people that they should no longer raise the issue,” he said.

“Japan needs to continue apologizing for the comfort women issue. I think that Japan should approach South Korea with feelings of endless responsibility,” he added.

South Korean National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang also apologized in a meeting with Hatoyama at a restaurant in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood for remarks he had made about an “apology from the Japanese Emperor,” which triggered an outcry in Japan.

“I am sorry to the people who I hurt [with the remarks],” he said. Moon previously drew fierce objections from Japan with remarks he made in a February interview with Bloomberg, in which he said a fundamental resolution to the comfort women issue would require a sincere apology to the survivors from the Japanese Prime Minister or Emperor on behalf of the country of Japan.

By Kim Won-chul, staff reporter

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