Seoul, Busan pass bill to boycott 'war crimes' Japanese firms

To sum up, they want all the Japanese companies to leave South Korea (since they’re all contracted somehow).

Watch the unemployment rate spike in the peninsula.

Don't come whining once everything starts to crumble.

To all the countries in SEA, it’s time to cooperate with Japan to bring their manufacturing plants to your shores. What you have here is a one in a lifetime opportunity. Grab it.

"product of a war crime company"

Just give it a rest. A rest of one to three generations. By then people will be healed hopefully.

There are more up and coming topics that will affect both countries - AI, Automation, Robotics - look forward and how to solve these potential problems.

To their credit, as indicated in the article, not all SK politicians and citizens believe in this nonsense.

Something the anti-Japan crowd will ignore as always in their belief that 'all' South Koreans have engaged in these childish games and are staunchly anti-Japan.

Germany question.

Poland in 2019 has asked Germany for compensation for ww2 damages in the range of over 700 billion Euros.

Greece has done the same and wants over 200 billion for damages suffered during the war.

What did Germany say?

No more compesation! It was handled in past agreements just like the one between Japan and S. Korea 1965.

I do agree for Japan to follow Germany example and not pay any more compensation.

We can even ask the government of Germany to get involved and see who they would side with. I'm pro bringing Germany as a 3rd party to look at the 1965 aggrement!

Heckleberry

you need to face the fact that your country has more to lose here.

If they decide to ban these companies which are all connected, guess what, no more Kpop in Japan, no more technology transfer etc...

It took a century for Japan to perfect their products. Do you think Korea can survive without Japanese technology?

Talking about shooting yourselves in the foot.

Other countries will and should gladly take over.

It seems to me S Korean is still in 1910 - 1945 and they can hardly move on from the past, maybe forever. What a pity! Other Asian countries had already moved on and are now much better nation than past.

Like this president, like these municipalities.

NIssan is considering complete withdrawal from this country. That make sense when they insist on keep boycotting even after this mess、not to mention other municipalities would probably follow this suit.

It is said there are total 273~275 so-called War Crime Japanese companies、almost identical to entire mid-big cap well-established manufacturing Japanese companies listed ion exchange. SK is basically expelling Japan. So it is polite attitude for Japan to leave there without confronting them and completely break ties between 2 nations.

They wouldn't complain, would they?

Moon and his morons are doubling down on incompetence.

Trump level incompetence by the Moon administration. They ripped up the “final and irreversible” agreement, didn’t put up anything in its place, and continue to try to freak out about japan not meeting their unspecified demands.

And now they’re doubling down.

Has there ever been an administration this inept in SEAsia?

It is very important to have good relationships with neighbors. That is why the United Northeast Asia is such an urgent matter.

To the CCP, a “United Northeast Asia” means China taking over all of NE Asia. It’s their code words for an invasion and annexation of the rest of Asia by China.

I don't think govts should get involved, very much a personal decision.

Do you guys think 'oh am about to give my hard-earned cash to the nazis' when you buy a $50 coffee table at Ikea (swedish founder was a nazi recruiter)?

How about Bayer who produced zyklon b, always tell your doc ' no Bayer drugs, thanks' when you get a cold?

At some point you gotta move on with your life ffs.

Shame because the Busan-Fukuoka trade zone was good for both parties.

Heckleberry

However it is interesting that while Japan argued that rights of individuals to claims were extinguished, it went against its own official stance in negotiating an agreement and compensation for the 'comfort women' in 2015.

Which went on to prove that South Korea is insincere and untrustworthy.

It's not an agreement (treaty), it's an accord. Legally different.

Funny, a Korean activists arranged payment for a 13m video billboard on Times Square about the alleged force laborers.

The joke is ... they used a photo of a Japanese worker, at a different mine, taken in 1950 claiming it was a Korean during the wartime. He was later forced to admit it was fake.

Seo Kyung-duk of Sungshin Women’s University - the first principal of “Dokdo School” - is also behind the Rising Sun means Hakenkreuz campaign. It would be interesting to look into his network. Sounds like he is in bed with SK government funded VANK.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20150115001250

He also said that he is joining international Korean students across the world to spearhead a campaign at a much more organized level.

The second joke is ... the ads weren't paid for. A Korean-American ad agency took the money and did not pay.

http://www.koreatimesus.com/dokdo-bibimbap-ads-remain-unpaid/

https://voicesofny.org/2014/03/community-concern-over-unpaid-high-profile-korean-ads/

It starts building up an overall picture of what is going on.

There's copy of the actual accord is here, Korea did not honor it.

https://www.mofa.go.jp/a_o/na/kr/page4e_000364.html

Childish. Populist. Self-destructing. Stupid....and who really cares what they do? This will not end well for them.

Everyone keeps bring Germany as a example, but remember Germany has been very strict of not paying any more compensation to both Poland and Greece based on past agreement.

Are they going to label VW a war crime company as well? Hitler design the VW bug himself.

Sigh. Here we go again.

What do the Koreans think they are going to accomplish by this? Seriously, what sort of favorable result will their demonstrations and boycotts achieve? (Note: Embarrassing or inconveniencing Japan is not a "favorable result.")

If the whole world is on Japan's side why is the silence deafening?

Because nobody knows or cares about a spat like this. It's not exactly headline news overseas. Which is just as well for Korea, because they are not making themselves look good.

Seoul, Busan pass bill to boycott 'war crimes' Japanese firms

And now you change the title from "ban" to "boycott", and there is nothing in the article that states that either.

South Korea's two largest metropolises on Friday each adopted an ordinance labeling as "war crime companies" certain Japanese firms over their purported use of forced labor or production of military supplies during World War II.

The legislative body of the southern port city of Busan passed its measure in the morning, becoming the first municipality in the country to do so, and the Seoul Metropolitan Council of the capital followed suit in the afternoon.

All they have done is label them as "war crime" companies and

Under the nonbinding ordinances, 284 Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd are to be given the designation, with the mayors and other officials of the cities being requested not to purchase products from them in the future.

There is NOTHING about a boycott, this type of writing is only going to make things worse by doing the EXACT same thing that the Korean's are doing, looking to pour gasoline on the fire!

Show some integrity here!

Heckleberry

If Japan wanted to cripple S. Korea it would not be hard from a long list of over 1100 items.

Japan has shipped all materials to S. Korea. So how did you survive exactly? By Japan sending you the shipments? That's how you declear victory for S. Korea?

Look how we survive Japan trade curbs. By them sending us the chemicals and materials necessary... Poor S. Korea. How did you do it??

Must be so hard to be you and receive all the shipments on time.

If those who did business with those Japanese companies boycott those companies, such action will drive them to leave South Korea and many people will lose their jobs as well.

Before arguing that SK will replace those companies, have you guys asked yourself if such companies can offer the same job with higher salaries than the Japanese one's? Just remember that Korean companies don't pay as much as Japanese companies do. How about the quality of goods and work environment? Wont it make Korean get revolted against their employers after all?

According to what I heard the unemployment rate in SK came to 9.2% what is the highest (before this Japan-S. Korea thing start). I wonder how SK will survive if Japanese companies leave South Korea. Keeping national pride can be in certain way a good thing, but if you don't think about the overall situation, your country may have bad consequences from this action.

All Japan has done is to remove South Korea from their preferential White list. Which means all South Korea needs to do, if they want to remain on the list, is to address that issue to Japan's satisfaction.

Instead South Korea has done, and continues to do everything else possible to destroy the relationship.

Like I said, there's something in the water over there.

Japan and the United States will remove South Korea and move the precision machinery factory to Taiwan. There is no need for South Korea.

So their Busan Asian film festival is over. Rename it South Korean pride.

 stickers saying "product of a war crime company" be attached to products that have already been purchased.

OK, it's printed. I've put one on my Samsung phone. I opened and I can't find which components are from Japan. So I bring it to the shop and pay me back ?

"War crime companies" the tone is politicly seditious, the frothing of a South Korean Government that has sunk to marshalling in the mayors, a new low, grubby, however expected.

you need to face the fact that your country has more to lose here.

If they decide to ban these companies which are all connected, guess what, no more Kpop 

LOL! I'll hold you to that promise!

S Koreans are now boycotting everything of Japan and more day by day. No doubt they will surely boycott 2020 Tokyo Olympics because Japan was a war crime country many decades ago, but N Korean team may very positively join in the Olympics. As a result S Korea is going to be only country that does not join in the Olympics. What a pity? They would know how foolish boycott is years later!

It looks like this is a strategy to support Korean companies, who will have to produce the Japanese made stuff that is being baned. Trump uses tariffs and Korea uses history.

OssanAmerica, the South Korean Government is a whining petulant child, expecting alphabet soup to play with at tea time, however served the political equivalent of boiled cabbage and greens. It is Saturday let them stew over the weekend.

@oldman_13 Today 06:51 am JST

To their credit, as indicated in the article, not all SK politicians and citizens believe in this nonsense.

Not enough of them to stop this stupidness from passing, though.

@HeckleberryToday 07:00 am JST

One quote from a legal expert:

Source: https://www.lawfareblog.com/korea-and-japan-clash-over-history-and-law

Uh, the author's name is Brian Kim, neither of the degrees are in Law and he graduated from Peking University?

However it is interesting that while Japan argued that rights of individuals to claims were extinguished, it went against its own official stance in negotiating an agreement and compensation for the 'comfort women' in 2015.

Technically, (except perhaps in extremely simplified renditions for peasants) Japan claimed that the right of diplomatic protection is lost (not exactly the same thing). However, even at that people have criticized the agreement in the first place as going beyond the obligations (for Japan) in the 1965 Treaty.

Still, it is one thing to negotiate for extra advantages above the treaty (which you must remember South Korea quickly reneged on), another to unilaterally declare it by dint of judiciary (a government organ).

@YubaruToday 07:11 am JST

No, "to boycott" is OK, since that is indeed the purpose of the bill. It just isn't backed up with coercion.

It is very important to have good relationships with neighbors. That is why the United Northeast Asia is such an urgent matter.

Yup. Please tell that to both South and North Korea.

Tom DoleyToday  01:03 am JST

Abe stated that this 'export restriction' was a retaliation against the Supreme Court ruling.

When did Abe say such thing? I am sure you have some source you can quickly provide?

In the case of Busan, there is also a provision that stickers saying "product of a war crime company" be attached to products that have already been purchased.

Stingy & spiteful people LOL. Why not just dump them all

Erratic, bellicose, inept, irrational, and ridiculous.

That pretty much sums the current leadership of South Korea under the "great" and "wise" leadership of soon to be China vassal, President Moon Jae-in.

What a concept..."product of a war crime company". LOL I suppose there should be a sticker on every Boeing jet operating throughout the world.

Mister XToday  04:36 pm JST

The occupation of Korea by Japan was no doubt a war crime 

LOL. Japan and Korea have not been at war since the 1500s. How can the annexation, which was negotiated and signed, recognized the world powers at the time, be a "war crime"?

 

Exactly. I would like to know

1) If there were ever such cases in world modern humane history, where the colonizer and the colonized had an official written and signed treaty concluded for such colonization other than results of wars.

If no, then it was not colonization but mutually agreed annexation. What else.

2) and the ex-colonized now flips the table around and demands for compensations.

Some posters here often quote a rotten platitude that we were threatened at gunpoint, but Hey, look what's written in the proclamation made by the then-biggest political groups in this country.

Some posters here who tend to claim Park Chung-hee was just a Traitor, or the county was not democratic then ... and hence 1965 Treaty should be null and void from the start....all those crappy excuse. Those should realize the world spins around the peninsula! Haven’t we all got disgusted enough with these Korean excuses?  Not just Koreans but all of us have been dealing with unreasonableness, haven’t we?

And you still keep trying to put up this farce that your leadership isn't blocking the "final and irreversible" agreement that it agreed to.

Sorry dude, don't think we're that stupid. We're not members of your leadership, or the people that support them.

Japan really does have to account for what it did in WWII. But, Japan cannot do this on its own, it has to be something negotiated between Japan and its victims.

Which is why Japan went to the table in good-faith, and negotiated a, and I quote, "final and irreversible" agreement that both countries had come to, together.

Then the inept Korean leadership has refused to advance it, ripping it up, and refusing to put forth any alternative agreement in its place. They have in the meantime continually whine about Japan not meeting their demands, even though they have not clarified what these new demands are. And because Japan hasn't met their unspecified demands, the federal government, the korean "leadership", started doing things like putting "boycott Japan" banners in the streets of Seoul, which in turn led to Japan finally getting frustrated. So Japan stopped their special trading status, to which the Korean leadership freaked out even more.

They are clearly too stupid to see that their own behavior directly led to the cancellation of their preferred partner status, and instead of dealing with their stupidity, they go on and on how Japan has wronged them. Still without specifying their demands.

Complete and utter ineptitude.

false claims of SK scrapping the 2015 agreement on 'comfort women'

Korea is 100% the reason the agreement was not finalized. They have proposed nothing in its place. You can try to deny reality all you want - it will only continue the current problems. You only have your own leadership to blame.

So if it was a final and irreversible agreement, why is Korea still whining, and passing judgement against Japanese companies?

So much for final and irreversible.

Looking back on the history between these 2 nations, under the annexation treaty, the Korean emperor handed sovereign power over his country to the Japanese emperor “completely and forever.” In 1965, the Treaty stated all the issues settled "finally and completely". In 2015 CW agreement, South Korea said it would consider the matter resolved "finally and irreversibly" . And the fact that Kim Young-sam、the 14th president of SK had promised in 1993 that SK would “never ask for compensation from Japan again nor bring this comfort women issue back again” if Japan made an official apology with the phrase of military involvement in Kono statement.　　Look what we are now.

For SK, the concept of promise even with adjectives like “ completely, finally, irreversibly” or “Never again” seems just non-existent. We can even see a Korean poster here who claims the agreement although which got completely gutted, still stands. Like this country, Like these people. They are usually called by ordinary people with common sense “ Liar” Liar is supposed to be non-trustworthy. Japan really should take completely different approaches as far as SK is concerned. History proves it's been all wrong already.

Korea and Japan had better find a way to deal with this in another way then just upping the ante. abe should be working this issue with Moon as a priority instead trying to deal with stonewall Putin.

Every day South Korea does something to make matters worse. South Korea opened a can of worms by linking WWII issues to trade and economics with their court ruling against Japanese companies. This was in violation of the Arbitration Clause of the 1965 Treaty. Instead of even attempting to justify the court's position by accepting Arbitration, they flat out refuse to arbitrate. And the Moon adnministration has done nothing but to stoke the flames of nationalism and anti-Japan sentiment. No effort is being made at all by South Korea to resolve the current situation, only make it worse.

At this stage, Japan should terminate all diplomatic relations with Sojuth Korea, and recognize the DPRK as the only legitimate government on the Korean Peninsula.

happyhereToday  09:19 am JST

@ganbare

If the whole world is on Japan's side why is the silence deafening?

South Korea went whining to the UN, the US and the WTO. The silence has been deafening. South Korea is making a complete fool of itself and the world sees Japan as a calm mature civilized country, and South Korea as an intellectually and emotionally challenged deranged child.

 The Japanese occupation of Taiwan and Korea was not really nice.

Very nice that's why Taiwan is friendly to Japan.

The Rape of Nanjing is very hard to forget for the Chinese.

No Chinese remember first hand because it's a fake history.

People should realize that the current South Korean government is shamelessly digging up and abusing old sentiments of more than 70 years ago to try and squeeze as much money out of the Japanese government as possible.

The occupation of Korea by Japan was no doubt a war crime but the Japanese government since then formally apologized on many occasions and together with the South Korean government signed several international treaties that handled the war damages which the Japanese government was always prepared to fulfill.

I feel sorry for the South Korean people because Moon is slowly but surely running this beautiful country in to the ground due to his incompetence and anti-Japan propaganda just so he can get his hands hands on some extra cash.

Mister XToday  04:36 pm JST

The occupation of Korea by Japan was no doubt a war crime 

LOL. Japan and Korea have not been at war since the 1500s. How can the annexation, which was negotiated and signed, recognized the world powers at the time, be a "war crime"?

Colonization trashed Korean society. (We Americans did not do that to Japan. during the Occupation; quite the opposite we created industrial Japan)

How is the opposite of what Japan did in Korea?

Japanese rule of Korea began in 1910 but there was a modernisation reform movement already taking place in Korea by the early 1880s. Korea sent a delegation to the USA in 1883.

That delegation pretty much was the extent of the "reform movement." And one of the lead delegates backtracked against modernization because he answered to China, who wanted to keep Korea in a primitive state. There is really no disputing that Korea was terribly backwards compared to its neighbors in 1880.

I don't want to defend Japanese excesses here, but Koreans tend to put this fictional rosy glow on their past, as though they were a successful and prosperous kingdom until they ran into the Japanese.

Nothing to be ashamed of. Look at Singapore in 1960. Look at it today. But they didn't obsess over their imagined glorious past. They instead looked to the future.

@Heckler

Just list even one which SK is still keeping words with in terms of 2015 CW agreeement or just the shut your mouth up

Moon himself decided it want final nor irreversible: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/05/11/asia/south-korea-japan-comfort-women/index.html

Seoul, Busan pass bill to boycott 'war crimes' Japanese firms

Once again, the title of the article and the "reality", two different things! These companies have NOT been banned, the municipalities have requested their employees to not do business with them!

Make the corrections, there is nothing anywhere that states they passed bills BANNING the companies!

Another day, more pure hatred of all Japanese by South Koreans. Every nation that has ever fought in a war has been involved in what other sides call "war crimes". Yes, even South Korea. Linking Japanese companies to it 80 years later is unforgivable.

I know all the world is on Japans side.

@pacificwest

Funny, a Korean activists arranged payment for a 13m video billboard on Times Square about the alleged force laborers.

Update:

The video billboard was a Toshiba high definition LED displays (known as ToshibaVision).

Oh the awful typo! "Koreans (Chinese) should read "Koreans and Chinese."

@ganbare

If the whole world is on Japan's side why is the silence deafening?

Did'nt Nissan's parent company manufacture poison gas to drop on China during WW2.

Perhaps China should consider taking Nissan to court and seize their assets for compensation.

One can understand their feelings, but isn't it a bit late for this?

If I offended somebody, I would apologize and compensate and move on. There is no perfect person on this planet, as simple as that.

The Koreans have every right.

Well, the evil things that happened to Koreans in the last two centuries have been the fault of the Japanese. Colonization trashed Korean society. (We Americans did not do that to Japan. during the Occupation; quite the opposite we created industrial Japan). Comfort women, so-called and slave labors, all the fault of the Japanese. The slaughter of innocent Koreans (Chinese) all the fault of hateful and ignorant Japanese. A divided Korea, all the fault of Japanese imperialism. There is more to say but this is enough.

Finally, a bill to boycott war crimes. Now where is the bill to produce quality politicians...

If they decide to ban these companies which are all connected, guess what, no more Kpop in Japan, no more technology transfer etc...

Where is the ban? Are we reading the same story? The article talks about designating certain Japanese companies as having played a part in war crimes affecting SK. It's a call to boycott not a ban.

It took a century for Japan to perfect their products. Do you think Korea can survive without Japanese technology?

Why, is Japan going to stop exporting goods to SK? Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot. Plus you have an extremely high opinion of 'Japanese technology', but this is no longer the 1980s when Japanese tech was king. You need to accept that times have changed, and not be like those Japanese soldiers in the islands of the Philippines refusing the accept the war ended.

Other countries will and should gladly take over.

This sounds like a personal wish more than an analysis based on fact. Is that just like how the fall in SK visitor numbers to Japan was matched by an increase of visitors from other countries? Things that never happened..

Japan's position is that it extinguished rights of all individuals to compensation with regards to the Japanese occupation era, while SK's position was that the treaty was between the two nations and not about individual claims.

Actually, It’s not Japan’s position, but Abe’s position. I’ve posted this comment from ex PM Hatoyama before but will post again. Previous governments of Japan all admitted that individual rights to claim were not extinguished, It is the Abe government that has backflipped on this issue.

"The Japanese government should go back to its judgment that as for the issue of laborers, the individual rights to claim damages were not completely and finally resolved in the 1965 treaty," said Hatoyama, who served as prime minister in 2009-2010.

Hatoyama said that Shunji Yanai, then director of the treaty bureau at Japan's foreign ministry in 1991, told a parliamentary session at the time that the normalization treaty did not put an end to individual rights to damages.

"It was the official view of the Japanese government in the past, that (forced labor issue) was not finally and completely resolved by the treaty," he said.

If Japan wanted to cripple S. Korea it would not be hard from a long list of over 1100 items.

@AlexBacu - Is Japan the only country in the world to produce those 1100 types of good/materials?

I doubt it.

They can and will find alternatives.

I don't want to defend Japanese excesses here, but Koreans tend to put this fictional rosy glow on their past, as though they were a successful and prosperous kingdom until they ran into the Japanese.

I've never met any Korean who said their country was a prosperous kingdom prior to Japan's annexation. What they will tell you is that Korea was poor but were in the process of pursuing reformation just as Japan started 30 years earlier, and such reformation did not require colonization by Japan, just as Japan didn't need America to colonize it in order to modernize. The problem here is that the Japanese will always glorify (or justify) their annexation saying that they did it to modernize Korea, when in fact it was to rape Korea from its natural and human resources to aide its imperialist ambitions.

So here's the thing for all you confused people, and I don't blame you given that Abe and co continuously change narratives depending on the situation.

This dispute between Korea and Japan started when South Korea's Supreme Court ordered Japanese companies to pay damages to forced laborers. The decision for individual rights to claim for these damages is permissible as it was not covered by the 1965 agreement, and this has also been the understanding of all the previous Japanese governments. However, Abe has back-flipped on this by saying that individual rights to claim for damages has already been settled by the 1965 treaty.

So, Abe asked Moon to go to arbitration, but Moon declined saying he could not interfere with the judicial rulings. So Abe decided he could force Moon to overturn the Supreme Court's rulings by restricting exports of key supplies needed for the semiconductor industry and produce uncertainty in the economy. Abe stated that this 'export restriction' was a retaliation against the Supreme Court ruling.

So when Korea said they will raise this with the WTO, Abe realized Japan would lose so he quickly changed narratives to 'Korea didn't respond to consultative requests' and then finally to 'national security reasons due to loose export controls'.

Now, the fact that Abe tried to retaliate via economic means for a historical issue instead of solving it diplomatically, caused massive uproars in Korea, escalating into boycotts, withdrawal of GSOMIA, and now this. Koreans were living their ordinary lives as usual until Abe's error in judgment (which according to some Japanese newspapers he has admitted internally), has altered Koreans to lose trust in Japan.

Moon offered several olive branches to resolve it diplomatically, but Abe has refused. I think both are stubborn, but I wouldn't blame the Koreans for bringing up the past. It's Abe's back-flipping and poor decision making that got both Korea and Japan into this mess.

Abe is hyper concerned about the Supreme Court's ruling rather than the comfort women issue, because the former has the potential to blow out significantly and set precedence across all over Asia.

@Hachidori

they want all the Japanese companies to leave South Korea 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/09/06/business/corporate-business/nissan-mulls-exit-south-korea-trade-tensions-rise-newspaper/

Nissan mulls exit from of South Korea as trade tensions rise: newspaper

SEP 6, 2019

Nissan Motor Co. is considering pulling out of South Korea, the Financial Times reported on Friday, as political and trade tensions between Japan and South Korea have caused sales of Japanese products in the neighboring country to plummet.

Quote from above: "It seems to me S Korean is still in 1910 - 1945 and they can hardly move on from the past, maybe forever. What a pity! Other Asian countries had already moved on and are now much better nation than past."

Somethings are hard to forget. There are still living victims the massacre of Koreas by Japanese mobs after 1923 earthquake. The Japanese occupation of Taiwan and Korea was not really nice. The Rape of Nanjing is very hard to forget for the Chinese. Truth is "moving on" is not for the benefit of the victims but the victimizers.

Rather curious if the author of the above quote has "moved on" from the atomic bombings Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Speaking of "moving on," Anyone have any thoughts about this from the 1 Sept. 2019 Mainichi Shimbun: "Tokyo gov. skips 1923 Korean massacre anniversary eulogy for 2nd year, raising denial worries."

The boycott of Japanese goods has spread to Hawaii and the west coast of America. All Japan has to do is apologize and institute fairplay and equity. Then both sides can work together to restore their friendship and alliance

It is very important to have good relationships with neighbors. That is why the United Northeast Asia is such an urgent matter.

Actually, It’s not Japan’s position, but Abe’s position. I’ve posted this comment from ex PM Hatoyama before but will post again. Previous governments of Japan all admitted that individual rights to claim were not extinguished, It is the Abe government that has backflipped on this issue.

@Tom - thank you for posting that. So it appears Shinzo-kun's revisionists right wing stance has caused the relations with SK to sour to levels not seen for decades.

Are they going to label VW a war crime company as well? Hitler design the VW bug himself.

@gogogo - Why would they? Germany has apologised and does not deny, downplay or whitewash history. Germany as a nation are highly regarded in SK, and it is the knowledge of how Germany has made amends that makes Japan look so terrible in how they deal with history.

Watch the unemployment rate spike in the peninsula.

Don't come whining once everything starts to crumble.

@Hachi - Where did I hear this before?

Oh that's right, with the recent export curb Japan imposed on SK over high tech raw materials. It was supposed to cripple SK's economy and many here cheered at the prospect.

But then there was this report...

https://japantoday.com/category/politics/analysis-japan's-curbs-on-high-tech-materials-exports-to-south-korea-could-backfire

The development is regrettable, and the disagreement comes down to the interpretation of the 1965 treaty between the two countries.

Japan's position is that it extinguished rights of all individuals to compensation with regards to the Japanese occupation era, while SK's position was that the treaty was between the two nations and not about individual claims.

Legal experts are divided and where you stand on this issue will depend heavily on your personal bias.

One quote from a legal expert:

The majority opinion of the South Korean Supreme Court emphasizes that Japan had never agreed with Korea on the “illegality of the colonial era,” a prerequisite for assuming legal accountability to its victims. Without this consensus, the court argues, Japan could not possibly have intended to compensate the forced-labor victims through the 1965 treaty. The opinion also highlights that the 1965 treaty was intended not to settle individual grievances but to resolve property and debt claims in accordance with Article 4 of the Treaty of San Francisco, which Japan signed with the Allied Powers in 1951. 

Source: https://www.lawfareblog.com/korea-and-japan-clash-over-history-and-law

However it is interesting that while Japan argued that rights of individuals to claims were extinguished, it went against its own official stance in negotiating an agreement and compensation for the 'comfort women' in 2015.

So even Japan clearly didn't believe their own claims that the rights of individuals to compensation was fully extinguished.

@Hachidori

guess what, no more Kpop in Japan

Well, there is Plan B. Korean agencies are coming up with K-Pop teams whose members are 100% Japanese; it's impossible for Japanese government to ban Japanese citizens from performing in Japan.

If you want to see what a 100% Japanese member K-Pop looks like, take a look at this.

https://youtu.be/nUrMhJ2lE0A?t=31

@gogogo - Why would they? Germany has apologised and does not deny, downplay or whitewash history. Germany as a nation are highly regarded in SK, and it is the knowledge of how Germany has made amends that makes Japan look so terrible in how they deal with history.

I agree.

Fair enough. This is also what happened in Israel where Israelites boycotted German companies and products. Even today, top selling cars are all Korean, not German. Only after continuous apologies by the Germans have Israel slowly started to open up. We don’t hear the Germans whining about this and saying the Jews are childish. The Japanese?