Korean gov't to hold public hearing on Japan's wartime forced labor issue

Foreign Minister Park Jin, left, listens to Yang Keum-deok, a victim of Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries's wartime forced labor, during a visit to Yang's house in Gwangju on Sept. 2, 2022. [YONHAP]

Korea's Foreign Ministry plans to hold a public hearing Thursday on ways to resolve the thorny issue of how to compensate victims of Japan's wartime forced labor during World War II in line with the Supreme Court's ruling.

The hearing, co-organized by the ministry and Rep. Chung Jin-suk, head of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union, is scheduled to be held at the National Assembly in Seoul.

The government is reportedly considering creating a fund from donations of Korean companies to compensate victims without the participation and formal apologies of the accused Japanese firms, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel.

Victim groups have voiced strong opposition to the alleged resolution that lacks the direct involvement of related Japanese firms. Some have decided to boycott the hearing in protest of such a solution.

In 2018, the victims won their legal battle against Japanese companies in a landmark Korean Supreme Court ruling ordering those firms to pay compensation.

Seoul and Tokyo have held several rounds of working-level consultations on ways to resolve the issue.

Yonhap