According to Yonhap, on January 30, South Korea and Japan held working-level diplomatic consultations on how to compensate for Korean victim was forced to do wartime labor by Japan according to a 2018 ruling of the Korean Supreme Court.
Mr. Seo Min-jung, Director General of the Department of Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, discussed the above issue with his Japanese counterpart Takehiro Funakoshi at the headquarters of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
[Nhật Bản và Hàn Quốc cam kết duy trì liên lạc về lao động thời chiến]
This is the second live discussion following Korea officially raised the idea of using public funds in the country on behalf of two Japanese companies Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nippon Steel Corp. compensation to the plaintiffs of the lawsuit wartime labor.
However, the plan was met with opposition from the plaintiffs when they wanted the Japanese side to apologize and these companies directly participate in the compensation process.
South Korean officials informed their Japanese counterparts of the response, and urged Tokyo to participate in compensating the victims.
After the meeting, Mr. Seo Min-jung said that the two sides had agreed to maintain close bilateral exchanges at various levels, including the participation of senior officials.
Until now, consultations on wartime labor issues were usually conducted at the expert level.
A South Korean foreign ministry official said the current situation requires multi-level consultations, showing the importance of meetings between senior officials to work towards a mutually agreed solution. .
Meanwhile, the Japanese Foreign Ministry issued a statement stating that the two sides agreed to maintain communication between the two countries’ diplomatic officials to resolve outstanding issues.
(Vietnam+)