TOKYO (AP) – Japan’s foreign minister accused South Korea on Monday of severely straining ties by making “illegal” demands for compensation for the sexual abuse of Korean women and the use of forced labor during World War II .
Toshimitsu Motegi, in a diplomatic policy speech in parliament, said a recent ruling in the South Korean court ordering Japan to compensate 12 South Korean women who were sexually abused in Japanese military brothels during the war was ” an abnormal development that is absolutely unthinkable under international law and bilateral relations. . ”
“We strongly urge South Korea to rectify the violation of international law as soon as possible” and to restore healthy relations, Motegi said.
The Central District Court in Seoul ruled on January 8 that the Japanese government should give 100 million won ($ 91,360) to each of 12 elderly women who filed lawsuits in 2013 over their wartime as ‘comfort women’.
They were among tens of thousands of women across Japanese-occupied Asia and the Pacific sent to the Japanese army brothels.
The ruling exacerbated tensions between the two countries, whose relations had already fallen to their lowest level in decades over earlier South Korean rulings over Japan’s actions during the colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in 1910-1945.
The Supreme Court of South Korea in 2018 ordered Japanese companies to provide compensation to some South Koreans who were forced to work in their factories during the war.
The dispute over forced labor escalated into a trade dispute, threatening South Korea to scrap a 2016 military intelligence deal with Japan, a key component of its regional defense cooperation with the United States.
Japan argued the court’s rulings, saying that all wartime compensation issues were resolved in a 1965 treaty that normalized relations in which Japan provided $ 500 million in economic aid.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in Seoul on Monday that it would “not be desirable for bilateral relations” if Seoul and Tokyo did not find a diplomatic solution before the South Korean courts seized the local assets of the Japanese companies, which were seized after refusing to compensate Korean workers in wartime.
Moon also described the verdict of ‘comfort women’ as ‘honestly a complicating’ development for the government’s efforts to improve relations with Japan. At a news conference, he gave no details about any possible diplomatic efforts.
Motegi called South Korea an “important neighbor” and said its cooperation with Japan and the United States was “indispensable for local security”, including the response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Japan, under a 1995 semi-government Asian women’s fund, offered payments and apologies to certified victims of wartime sexual abuse from five countries, and settled disputes with all but South Korea. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, sixty-one South Korean victims each received 5 million yen ($ 48,200) from the 367 million yen ($ 3.5 million) fund, but many others refused to accept the money.
In 2015, the then governments of South Korea and Japan reached a final and irreversible agreement to settle the matter with a new 1 billion yen ($ 9 million) fund set up by the Japanese government, but the current Moon government has disbanded, saying the agreement was reached without proper consultation with the victims.
In a tone shift, Moon said on Monday that South Korea recognizes the 2015 agreement as a legal agreement that should provide the basis for finding a better solution that satisfies the victims. He did not expand.
Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Manabu Sakai said his government was “taking note” of Moon’s comments. Japan continues to call for appropriate action by South Korea, while considering all possible options, he said.
“We will see what the South Korean party will take,” Sakai said.
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Associated Press author Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
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