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© Thomson Reuters 2023.S Korean victims of Japan forced labor accuse Seoul of rushing compensation
By Hyonhee Shin SEOUL©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
36 Comments
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Asiaman7
Alternative headline: South Korean victims want Japan to take full accountability for forced labor
Samit Basu
This is why Kishida administration cannot cut a deal with Yoon's administration for a resolution, the Japanese government must negotiate with forced laborers directly to prevent asset liquidation.
And these lawyers aren't doing it for money, they are the Moon Jae In kind of "human rights" lawyers working for free to fight what they perceive as "evil", namely the Japanese government and corporations in this case.
ReasonandWisdomNippon
It doesn't matter what Korean administration you talk too. All of them are corrupt, just like Lee Jae-myung, The guy who almost became president instead of Yoon, now getting ready for jail.
This is a complete repeat, recycle of same old Korean tactics and complaints.
2015 Comfort Women agreement, more then 70% of Women wanted the agreement, deal was signed. Yet in 2017, a new PM Moon administration destroyed the deal.
If you listen to Korean Logic, then the 1965 agreement doesn't cover anything. When in fact it was supposed to cover everything! No lines left for Korean to come later and complain, ask for more. 1965 agreement took 15 years to be signed and approved by both countries. Yet 15 years wasn't enough either. That wasn't rushed, yet Korea still complaining about it.
Open-minded
Forced labor = "slavery"
englisc aspyrgend
Makes one wonder if they are NK shills, they obviously don’t want to benefit their own country. Or are these lawyers doing it for politically motivated reasons? Coaching their ancient clients to be deliberately obstructive, while hiding behind a facade of moral rectitude?
Pinknails
Forced labor = "slavery"
Yes, something that was very common is the West. Was it not?
Lindsay
More sour grapes! The first round of compensation was paid over 40 years ago but the Korean government at the time out the money into infrastructure instead of passing it on to the victims. These people need to check their own history and blame their own government for not receiving compensation. They need to stop trying to bleed Japan for money that was already paid to them.
OssanAmerica
Wrong. The Mobilization laws included both Japanese and Koreans (who were Japanese nationals at the time) and they were paid.
OssanAmerica
The survivors are all old and they need to get their just awards as soon as possible, regardless of the source of funds. But these younger lawyers and activists would rather perpetuate the issue for their own benefit rather than the actual survivors'.
rainyday
Rushing it? Its taken 78 years….
I’m not sure I understand why this would be a bad thing. They ARE old, it HAS taken too long and normalizing relations and ending the dispute sounds great to me.
Open-minded
@OssanAmerica
But.......Yuri Kageyama said:
Would you like to try again?
Slavery!
Open-minded
Hey Ossan,
This does not sound like employment to me.
Care to explain your confusion about the subject?
"Responses to Slave Labor in Japan and the United States"
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=3026&context=clr
OssanAmerica
open-minded,
All people under the Mobilization Laws were compensated. Note that the action brought in the South Korean Court is for "forced labor" and no claim of "slavery" has ever been made. And the survivors, activists and lawyers know infinitely more about the subject than you do.
James
Might find it hard since the treaty says compensation was paid to the Korean government to pay out to victims.
Open-minded
Ossan
LOL!
Koreans, were conscripted into labor from 1944 to 1945 by the National Mobilization Law. About 670,000 of them were taken to Japan, where about 60,000 died between 1939 and 1945 due mostly to exhaustion or poor working conditions. Many of those taken to Karafuto Prefecture (modern-day Sakhalin) were trapped there at the end of the war, stripped of their nationality and denied repatriation by Japan; they became known as the Sakhalin Koreans. The total deaths of Korean forced laborers in Korea and Manchuria for those years is estimated to be between 270,000 and 810,000.
Because Japan made it legal does not mean it was not "slave labor." Being given a place to stay and food to eat, and working long hours with not being able to leave means "slavery." I guess the "comfort women" were also legal volunteers, right? It was not called "slavery" in the courts, too!
I just quoted to reports from researchers and lawyers who know more than the both of us.
Where is your evidence?
Samit Basu
@OssanJapan
The legal status of Koreans were illegally occupied people just like Palestinians and Ukrainians under Russian occupation. Heck, the Cairo Declaration(aka Japan's terms of surrender) makes it clear the allies considered Koreans illegally occupied people.
Just as how it is illegal for Israel to conscript Palestinians and Russia conscript Ukrainians, it was also illegal for Imperial Japan to conscript Koreans under occupation.
There aren't in it for money, but to get the justice served.
theFu
Korea needs to move on.
Little can be gained by looking at the bad things done by our ancestors, beyond taking steps to avoid them in the future and not holding the children of the people in power at the time directly accountable. The people who did and ordered the terrible actions should have been held accountable during their lifetimes, not their children.
William77
You might be right,but on the other hand I wouldn't say that their Japanese LDP counterpart is an example of virtue,they are as corrupted as the Korean administration.
Garthgoyle
So after such a long time, the governments come to a solution but people still complain that "they rushed the compensation."
So... they don't want compensation. What they really want is retribution.
Samit Basu
@Garthgoyle
It's not a solution because the plaintiffs have rejected it. Remember, the Yoon administration's proposal has no legal standing. To have a legal standing, it must be passed as a law by the parliament but it can't be passed because the Democratic party with a supermajority oppose Yoon's proposal, backs plaintiff's solution of liquidating Japanese assets.
The only legally acceptable solution is the liquidation of seized Japanese assets to compensate the plaintiffs.
kennyG
Sure she can say anything she wants and anyway she wants as there's nothing to prove her telling truths. The same old tactics without any third parties' testimonies just like cases of Comfort women, which, by the way, are being proven as all lies piled up on lies these days. No female on the Peninsula were mobilized by the law. All those Korean female who moved to Japan were volunteers for the jobs. There's no way she didn't know she had to work at the factory/farm before she left the peninsula. The same old disgusting tactics.
There's case for different Korean women girl whose testimony was disclosed at the court.
1992年の釜山従軍慰安婦・女子勤労挺身隊公式謝罪等請求訴訟(最高裁棄却)では原告3人が東京麻糸紡績沼津工場に派遣された女子勤労挺身隊だった。1997年にはじまった東京麻糸紡績沼津工場朝鮮人女子勤労挺身隊公式謝罪等請求訴訟(東麻裁判)では判決で事実認定はなされなかった(最高裁棄却)。
そのほか、当時隊員だった金文善はインタビューで東京麻糸紡績の求人に応募した動機について次のように述べている[37]。
See? Like Comfort Women cases, there's no such process called fact-checking in Korean justice once defendants are Japan/Japanese companies.
kennyG
What about Yuri Kageyama, just one of counterclockwise journalists? How come she hasn't updated her reports on comfort women issues any longer despite knowing recent counter-movements by Korean academia accusing all those fabrications by Chong Dae Hyup/Yuji Hosaka, a bunch of liers? Sure she knows what's happening inside Korea, in front of Japan embassy these days,
Ricky Kaminski13
How dare they try and seek solutions ay? The nerve!
kennyG
Heck. You never stop posting just like a laughing stock. IF IT WAS ILLEGAL、how come did A Reconsideration of the Annexation of Korea 3 times in 2001 = Official Int'l Conference DIDNOT CONCLUDE LIKE THAT ? Huh?
itsonlyrocknroll
There is no harm, in fact I would suggest that opinionating/commenting on JT threads/forum can enlighten and healthy debate should be welcomed.
This route cannot be said or extended to Governments that have undertaken to restore relations through treaty law.
Treaty on Basic Relations. Signed at Tokyo, on 22 June 1965 Official texts: Japanese, Korean
https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20583/volume-583-I-8471-English.pdf
There are means/protocols to resolve disputes that must be adhered to without question, cannot be resolved in domestic courts, or determine what action subject to interpretation.
The Treaty dispute administrative procedure, guidelines are enshrined in international law and have to be followed.
itsonlyrocknroll
The survivors are all old and they need to get their just awards as soon as possible, regardless of the source of funds. But these younger lawyers and activists would rather perpetuate the issue for their own benefit rather than the actual survivors'.
OssanAmerica comment captures the conundrum, and highlights the means for both governments to resolve the political disputes through independent arbitration, stipulated within the signed treaty.
kennyG
There was no international law/rule THEN. ALL legal/illegal disputes are nonsense, just ex post-fact law by the winners. Check what a Indian rep mentioned against all these craps! Buddy. ASK US and other allies. Unless they firmly respond, you are just a laughing stock
itsonlyrocknroll
Before makes judgments......
The Japan-Korea Dispute Over the 1965 Agreement
In fact, the agreement makes the path to resolution quite clear.
https://thediplomat.com/2020/10/the-japan-korea-dispute-over-the-1965-agreement/
Under the agreement, Korea received $300 million from Japan, as full and final settlement for claims between states, claims between one state and the individuals of the other, and claims among the individuals of the states, including those specified in Article IV (a) of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty. Private companies were also considered individuals for the purposes of the agreement.
However political interpretation still seems to be a means to undermine any possibility for future generations to move on
gogogo
Of course they are not happy, Korea don't want the problem resolved they just want to keep being the victim.
kennyG
Update yourself more with SK news. Get to know how badly SK has been polluted by NK spies and NK controlling labor unions.
kennyG
They are everywhere especially in media, not to mention, in Japan, as much as VaNK is considered to be a just a baby.
Nibek32
This was already resolved in 1965. The Korean government already agreed and received compensation. If Korean citizens aren’t happy, they should work it out with their government.
I spend a lot of time in Korea for work and even young people there are so racist against Japan and have clearly been educated on a lot of Korean propaganda. It’s really too bad they all live in the past.
ReasonandWisdomNippon
South Korea over the past 10 years has pushed itself into a corner, smaller and smaller each and every year.
From thinking they are above Japan, to slowly falling back in line in the 3rd place.
You tried to play a better hand of cards then you actually have in your hands! Your Moonie Moon tried hard! It's exactly as you elected the most anti-Japan person you could find in South Korea without attacking Japan physically..... they almost tried that too, using S.Korean radars to target Japanese planes.
What was the outcome to South Korean anti-Japan agenda?? We find out Japan holds more cards then South Korea! We find out without Japan first Island Chain S.Korea cannot exist, not just USA assistance, but Japan will become more and more important as time passes!
We find out Korean Supreme Court can't do anything without government approval. More of a scare tactic, intimidation to get Japan to give in to Korean demands.
S.Korea flexing hard, just to back down in the last 50 minutes just like Lee with GSOMIA termination. When people change their mind in the last 50 minutes before time expires, tells you a lot about Korean tactics, Squid Games at work.
kenshin_u
To begin with, do these Koreans have even one piece of evidence that they were treated badly in Japan? Like the comfort women, Korea seems to be a country that can win in court without a single piece of evidence.
Open-minded
kenshin_u..................Like the journals and records of Japanese personnel admitting to carrying out such crimes to them and comfort women.
I just gave everyone a link up top!
Open-minded
Some people have confirmed it!
KennyG...........Care to respond? None of you posting in defense of Japan has provided one piece of evidence to contradict all the evidence that has been shown to corroborate the attrocities committed by Japan.