SoKor Cuts Solution To Wartime Labor Row With Japan

South Korea is set to formally announce measures to settle a wartime labor compensation dispute with Japan soon, diplomatic sources said Sunday, Kyodo News reported.

Photo Insert: South Korea's Supreme Court in 2018 ordered steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. and machinery manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to compensate Korean plaintiffs for forced labor during World War II.

Such a move could pave the way for bilateral relations to emerge from the doldrums. Seoul has been considering providing compensation payments to former Korean laborers through a government-backed South Korean foundation, instead of requiring Japanese companies to pay damages as ordered by South Korean court rulings, Mainichi Japan also reported.

The latest development comes as relations between Tokyo and Seoul have shown signs of improvement after President Yoon Suk Yeol took office in South Korea in May last year with a pledge to take a future-oriented approach toward Japan.

While South Korea was under the government of Yoon's predecessor Moon Jae In, bilateral ties sunk to their lowest point in years over wartime labor and other issues stemming largely from Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea's Supreme Court in 2018 ordered steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. and machinery manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to compensate Korean plaintiffs for forced labor during World War II.

The companies refused to comply as the Japanese government views all issues between the two peoples stemming from its colonial rule as settled under a 1965 bilateral deal that included $500 million "economic cooperation" loans and grants to Seoul.

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