Put off liquidations, Korea's envoy to Tokyo proposes

Korea's ambassador to Japan Yun Duk-min responds to questions from the press at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on July 16. [YONHAP]

Korea's ambassador to Japan proposed holding off the liquidation of Japanese assets to compensate victims of wartime forced labor for the sake of better relations with Tokyo.

“I think it is necessary to freeze the liquidation process and create a space to solve this problem diplomatically,” Yun Duk-min said in meeting with the press in Tokyo on Monday.

“[The liquidation] may be a moral victory but it can still result in a situation that is no good for any party.”

Yun, formerly the head of the Korean National Diplomatic Academy, was hosting a press conference for the first time since he took his post in Tokyo in July.

Seoul-Tokyo ties, strained in recent years over the forced labor and Japanese sexual slavery issues, both of which date to the 1910-1945 Japanese annexation of Korea, could get worse depending on an expected court ruling in a case of compensation for forced labor victims.

The case dates to 2018, when the Supreme Court made landmark rulings ordering two Japanese companies to individually compensate Korean victims of forced labor during World War II.

Tokyo protested the decision, saying that a 1965 bilateral treaty that normalized bilateral ties resolved all compensation issues.

After appeals and trials, the Supreme Court in Korea is expected to rule on whether to allow the liquidation of assets of two Japanese companies to compensate forced labor victims as early as this month.

That liquidation, Yun warned, could severely damage Korea’s economy.

“There is concern that the people and businesses of both countries will suffer great damage, and as much as tens or hundreds of trillions [won] in business opportunities for Korean and Japanese companies could be lost,” he said.

The forced labor issue escalated into a trade dispute between the two countries, and even the suspension of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (Gsomia) in 2019.

Upon its inauguration in May, the Yoon Suk-yeol government pledged to improve ties with Japan, return to the Gsomia and engage with both Tokyo and Washington on security issues and economics.

Tokyo has repeatedly stressed that resolving the compensation rulings is a prerequisite for improving relations with Korea.

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry even submitted an argument to the Supreme Court in July to consider the ministry’s efforts to reach a diplomatic solution with Japan before it rules.

Yun stressed that it should be governments who take the lead in finding a solution, including creating communication channels between Korean victims and Japanese companies.

“Last month, Minister Park Jin visited Japan and created room for more communication,” Yun said. “It is my understanding that he had conveyed exactly what the victims want from Japan.”

The Foreign Ministry hosted a meeting with victims and experts on Tuesday, though most victims had said would boycott the meeting after the ministry submitted its argument to the Supreme Court last month.

BY LEE YOUNG-HEE,ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]