Shuttle diplomacy possible with Japan following Yoon's gambit

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Shuttle diplomacy possible with Japan following Yoon's gambit

Published: 07 Mar. 2023, 18:21 Updated: 07 Mar. 2023, 18:25

President Yoon Suk Yeol instructs ministers to work toward building a mechanism for “future-oriented cooperation” with Japan in a Cabinet meeting at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul Tuesday after the government announced a plan to compensate victims of wartime forced labor through a Korea-funded public foundation the previous day. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol could visit Tokyo to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later this month in a possible revival of shuttle diplomacy between the two countries, according to South Korean officials and press reports.

On Monday, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a plan to compensate victims of forced labor during Japan's colonial rule with a Korea-backed public foundation, without requiring the participation of the Japanese companies ordered to pay up by the Korea Supreme Court in 2018.

While facing some backlash domestically, the move was generally welcomed by Japan, finally signaling a thaw in relations between South Korea and Japan thated in recent years over the forced labor issue and a trade spat.

Several South Korean officials said that Yoon could make a trip to Japan as early as later this month, which could lead to the resumption of more frequent diplomatic exchanges.

Japanese media outlets, including Kyodo News, reported Monday that the two governments are planning a visit by Yoon to Tokyo for talks with Kishida March 16 and 17, citing diplomatic sources.

This could bring about the normalization of so-called shuttle diplomacy, which would see more frequent visits and meetings between the leaders of Japan among other exchanges.

The presidential office denies any such discussions.

Shuttle diplomacy between Korea and Japan has been suspended since late 2011, and the leaders of the two Korea's haven't visited each other's countries for about 12 years as relations remained strained over ongoing territorial and historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over Korea.

The last Japanese prime minister to visit Seoul was Yoshihiko Noda in October 2011. President Lee Myung-bak was the last Korean leader to visit Japan in December 2011.

Yoon is expected to make a visit to Washington next month for a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance.

Japan is also the host of the Group of Seven (G7) summit scheduled for May in Hiroshima, Japan, which will be attended by Biden.

If Korea is invited to attend the G7 summit as a guest country by Japan, it could provide another opportunity for a Yoon-Kishida-Biden summit.

The move to mend Korea-Japan ties was immediately praised by Biden Monday as a "groundbreaking new chapter of cooperation and partnership between two of the United States' closest allies."

The rocky relations between South Korea and Japan has often hindered the U.S. vision of closer trilateral cooperation especially amid China's rising assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region and North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

In a parliamentary session on Monday, Kishida said the compensation plan will help to restore "healthy" relations between Tokyo and Seoul.

He described South Korea as an "important partner" and outlined his hopes to bolster its "strategic partnership" with South Korea to deal with international challenges including the growing military threat from North Korea.

Yoon said in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, "It is clear that future-oriented cooperation between South Korea and Japan will help defend freedom, peace and prosperity not only in our two countries but also around the world."

Yoon stressed that the plan is the outcome of his administration "looking for ways to respect the victims' positions while serving the common interests and future development of both Korea and Japan."

He noted that Korean governments of present and past have worked to "heal the pain" of people who were mobilized into forced labor and provide them with proper compensation.

Referring to his address last week marking the March 1 Independence Movement of 1919, Yoon again said that Japan has "transformed from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner that shares the same universal values with us and cooperates on issues of security, economy, science and technology and the global agenda."

Yoon noted the decrease in the number Korean travelers to Japan and Japanese travelers to Korea in recent years following the deterioration of ties. He added that Japanese people chose Korea as the top country they want to visit after Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted.

Yoon then ordered ministers to "meticulously prepare and provide support for future-oriented cooperation between the two countries" by establishing a cooperative mechanism" between the two countries for "substantial exchanges and cooperation between the business sector and future generations."

The Yoon administration plan to compensate 15 plaintiffs through a public foundation financed by donations from Korean companies that benefited from the 1965 claims settlement agreement with Japan has been met with mixed reaction domestically because it doesn't include contributions from the perpetrator companies.

Foreign Minister Park Jin said Monday that there is an opportunity for the Japanese companies to "voluntarily" contribute, though it is unclear yet if they plan on doing so.

In landmark rulings in 2018, the Korean Supreme Court ordered two Japanese companies — Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — to individually compensate victims of forced labor during World War II. The top court acknowledged the illegality of Japan's colonial rule of Korea and recognized that the individual's right to compensation had not expired.

The Japanese companies refused to comply. Japan maintains that all compensation issues related to its colonial rule over Korea were resolved through the 1965 treaty normalizing relations.

The Japanese government imposed export restrictions on Korea in the summer of 2019 following the forced labor rulings, and that led to a period of tit-for-tat diplomacy and a drop in the purchase of Japanese products by Koreans.

All three surviving plaintiffs in the Supreme Court rulings, including forced labor victim Yang Geum-deok, expressed their opposition to the government plan proposed Monday because it absolves the Japanese companies of their legal responsibility.

For a second day, a coalition of 611 civic groups held a rally denouncing the government's plan to compensate the forced labor victims through a Korea-funded foundation, protesting a third-party compensation method.

The activists, joined by Yang, who traveled from her hometown of Gwangju, called on Japan to properly apologize and comply with the Supreme Court's ruling in front of the National Assembly in western Seoul.

Rival parties were divided on the plan, with People Power Party (PPP) interim chief Chung Jin-suk stressing the broader diplomatic perspective, national interest and economic security.

"It will serve as an opportunity to strengthen security cooperation between the two countries by inheriting and developing on the Korea-Japan partnership declaration made by then President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in 1998," said Chung.

Speaking at a rally in front of the National Assembly Tuesday, Democratic Party (DP) Chairman Lee Jae-myung called the plan "disgraceful" and "humiliating to the victims."

"War crimes cannot be resolved without a sincere apology from Japanese authorities and without fair compensation for the victims," he added.

The Korean Bar Association in a statement Tuesday urged follow-up measures to the government's plan to resolve the forced labor compensation issue, stating that Japan's participation and self-reflection was missing.

The association said it is "deeply concerned" that there is a lack of corresponding measures from Japan, including the responsible companies, and stressed that the mobilization of forced labor during the Japanese occupation was clearly a "crime against humanity."

Yang Geum-deok, bottom row center, a forced labor survivor, and other activists protest a government plan to compensate victims of wartime forced labor without involvement of responsible Japanese companies in a rally in front of the National Assembly in western Seoul Tuesday. [NEWS1]

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]