Japan Tells South Korea To Get Real Over Wartime Labor Disputes

The Japanese government has informed its counterparts across the Sea of Japan in South Korea that it will be “impossible” for Prime Minister Suga to visit the Korean peninsula for talks on wartime labour disputes if “proper measures” were not taken by Seoul address Tokyo’s concerns.

The now annual trilateral summit between Japan, China, and South Korea had been scheduled to take place in South Korea, and on the sidelines serves as an important opportunity for the three nations to discuss a range of other regional issues.

At the time Japan provided the South Korean government with a US$300 million grant in economic aid in addition to US$200 million in loans, and a further US$300 million in loans for private trust as “economic cooperation”.

The 1965 Treaty, Article II, subsequently signed by both nations reads:

1. The High Contracting Parties confirm that the problems concerning property, rights, and interests of the two High Contracting Parties and their peoples (including juridical persons) and the claims between the High Contracting Parties and between their peoples, including those stipulated in Article IV(a) of the Peace Treaty with Japan signed at the city of San Francisco on September 8, 1951, have been settled completely and finally.

Neither the grants, or loans were ever used to compensate South Korean citizens by the government of the day or subsequent governments in Seoul.