[Column] Persuading the forced labor victims are key

Jin Chang-soo

The author is director of the Center for Japan Studies at the Sejong Institute.

The clock is ticking for a thaw in the frozen Korea-Japan relations. The two governments are making final overtures to address the wartime forced labor compensation issue after their foreign ministries had director-level meetings and the Korean side of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ Union visited Tokyo. A public debate on finding effective solutions to the thorny issue was held in the National Assembly, Jan. 12. On his recent trip to Washington, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida publicly expressed his will to solve the problem to improve Seoul-Tokyo ties. Some observers even forecast a Korea-Japan summit as early as February.

Given the non-reconciliatory public atmosphere in Korea, it may take longer before the two sides finally untie the Gordian Knot. Korea’s opposition parties and civic groups representing victims of forced labor during World War II criticize the Yoon Suk Yeol administration for unfurling “submissive diplomacy” toward Japan and demand a sincere repent from Tokyo again. Many hurdles are awaiting the Yoon administration until it finds a solution that can calm disgruntlements from surviving victims in Korea.

An obsession to solve the conundrum will not bear good results. The Yoon administration must meet and persuade the victims. The Moon Jae-in administration chose to make a political decision after hurriedly wrapping up closed-door meetings with surviving victims and their families citing security reasons. Such a muddy — and hasty — process only fueled discontent from victims, which ended up with a repeat of the same conflict over the past issue.

A public debate on finding solutions to the wartime forced labor compensation issue was held on Jan. 12 in the National Assembly. The placard before the participants shows their opposition to third-party compensation through a fund partly supported by Posco, which benefited from the package deal between Seoul and Tokyo in 1965. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]

The government can learn lessons from a hurried agreement on addressing the sex slave issue in 2015. After pressured by the U.S. government to improve Korea’s relations with Japan, the Park Geun-hye administration rushed to make diplomatic overtures, which triggered political controversy and only deepened a discord between Korea and Japan. It is nearly impossible for the Korean government to reflect victims’ demand in diplomacy. Only when the government tries to persuade and convince the victims through a transparent system can the dispute over the past be ended.

The Yoon administration made effort to reflect various voices of the victims by holding a public debate on the forced labor compensation issue based on proposals by a joint civilian-government consultative body. But the government must not rush to reap benefits. Before it finds a solution to the compensation issue, many challenges lie ahead, such as Tokyo’s upcoming declaration of February 22 as “Takeshima Day” (Takeshima is the Japanese name for “Dokdo”), history textbook approval in March, and the Fukushima contaminated water issue later on, followed by Japan’s (repeated) push for the registration of the Sado mine as a Unesco world heritage site despite Seoul’s strong protest. In that mine field of deep-rooted hostilities, the Yoon administration must not make the same mistake of dashing to resolve the forced labor issue.

All parties involved must realize that the wartime labor issue cannot be addressed by the Korean government alone. Korea-Japan relations have so far evolved in the pattern of Seoul’s raising of a moral issue followed by Tokyo’s concession, as clearly exemplified by the trajectory of the Kono Statement in 1993, the Murayama Statement in 1995, the Kim Dae-jung-Obuchi Joint Declaration of Korea-Japan partnership in 1998 and the Naoto Statement in 2010. Each declaration was attacked for low levels of apology, but they are still respected.

But it is difficult to see a remorseful Japan after Shinzo Abe took power in 2013. A historical revisionism against any more apologies prevails in political circles in Japan. Such an uncompromising political landscape makes it more difficult to address the forced labor issue than before. There is a widespread perception in Japan that if Tokyo accepts Seoul’s demand, Seoul would make another demand. The Moon Jae-in administration’s hard-line policy toward Japan also contributed to fanning that attitude in Japan.

Under such volatile circumstances, the Yoon administration has come up with a “third party-based” solution, or compensation by a foundation for wartime laborers first on behalf of Japanese companies, which will be reimbursed by Korean companies that had benefited from the package deal in 1965. The novel solution is not perfect yet realistic. Though not satisfactory, it is still better than in the Moon administration which did nothing to mend the ties.

At the same time, we must brood over why Korea’s argument based on morality does not work in Japan anymore. Korea must learn lessons from European countries who could reconcile with their old enemies after putting their pasts behind them. Korea must have a sincere introspection on how Germany and France became friends after 100 years of war and how Ukraine and Poland could stitch up their old wounds.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.