South Korea’s government has announced a plan to resolve a long-running dispute on compensating people who were forced to work in Japanese factories and mines during World War II.
Monday’s plan, which was met with immediate protests in South Korea but hailed as “historic” by the United States, comes as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol seeks to mend ties with Japan as North Korea accelerates its nuclear and missiles programmes.
Unveiling the plan, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin said the former workers, the surviving of whom are now in their 90s, will be compensated through a public foundation funded by private-sector companies rather than by the Japanese firms involved in the forced labour.
The South Korean government had first raised the proposal in January, sparking a backlash from victims and their families because it did not include contributions from Japanese companies, including those ordered by South Korean courts to pay reparations, such as Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
The issue of forced labour, as well as that of the enslavement of South Korean women in Japanese military brothels, has bedevilled South Korea-Japan ties for decades.
Credit: Aljazeera.com
