The World Briefly

March 07, 2023

Forced Labor, Volunteer Pay

South Korea

Listen to Today's Edition

South Korea unveiled a scheme to compensate individuals who were forced to work for Japanese companies during Japan’s colonization of the country in the first half of the 20th century, a move that seeks to resolve a longstanding issue that has strained relations between the two nations, the Washington Post reported.

The government announced it will use a foundation funded by South Korean companies, rather than asking for payments directly from Japanese firms that used forced labor. Officials said the donations will come from companies that benefited from a deal struck in 1965 in which Tokyo paid $500 million in grants and loans to Seoul to settle claims stemming from its occupation of the Peninsula.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin added that the government hopes that Japanese firms will voluntarily contribute to the fund and that Tokyo will offer a “comprehensive apology.”

The decision, however, clashes with the South Korean Supreme Court’s verdict in 2018 in which it ordered two Japanese companies – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel – to compensate South Koreans who were forced to work for them during World War II, often in brutal conditions.

The ruling generated a diplomatic rift between Japan and South Korea – both US allies – which impacted trade relations and a military intelligence-sharing agreement. Japan contends that the forced labor issue had been settled by the 1965 agreement.

Japan and the US have welcomed the government’s recent announcement, with US President Joe Biden describing it as “a groundbreaking new chapter of cooperation and partnership between two of the United States’ closest allies.”

Even so, many plaintiffs of the 2018 case and opposition parties rejected the decision.

Analysts explained that resolving the forced labor issue was integral in improving security and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries to counter North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and China’s military buildup.

South Korea, Japan and the US have boosted cooperation on a variety of defense and economic security issues, including reducing supply-chain reliance on China, and undertaking joint military drills in response to North Korea’s ballistic missile tests.

This story originally appeared in the March 07, 2023 newsletter, Giving Back Paradise.