SEOUL/GWANGJU/TOKYO-- The South Korean government is considering a method to compensate victims of Japan's wartime forced labor through a public foundation fund rather than direct payment from responsible Japanese firms, officials here confirmed during a public hearing Thursday.
Victims and supporting civic groups, however, strongly protested the move, saying that the issue is not about money but that of addressing past human rights violations of Japan.
The government's controversial plan was announced during the event held at the National Assembly in Seoul on ways to resolve the thorny issue of compensating victims in line with the Supreme Court's back-to-back landmark rulings in 2018 against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nippon Steel Corp., respectively.
Seo Min-jung, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry, said the government is reviewing the scheme in which a third party entity can compensate the plaintiffs on behalf of the accused Japanese companies.
She said the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan was the ideal entity in terms of reducing the time and process required to establish a new foundation and a fund. The foundation last month revised its internal regulations to allow it to compensate forced labor victims.
Seo said the government plans to contact individual plaintiffs and surviving family members and ask for their consent.
In terms of financing the fund, Seo stressed there needs to be a "creative approach" due to difficulties of forcing the defendant companies to cough up their due money, suggesting that the fund may be created without Japanese involvement.
Victim groups have made clear their negative position on such an approach that lacks the direct involvement of related Japanese firms. At the hearing, co-organized by the ministry and Rep. Chung Jin-suk, head of the South Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union, some held up placards protesting the scheme, while others boycotted the event.
Lee Guk-eon, head of a civic group supporting victims in Gwangju, 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul, said the government's plan essentially "downgrades" the severity of the historical problem into that of a financial matter.
"If the South Korean government accepts donations from local companies for compensation, it is as if the government is acknowledging Japan's position that the Supreme Court ruling was wrong," Lee said.
Seoul and Tokyo have held several rounds of working-level consultations on ways to resolve the issue. Japan has claimed that all reparation issues related to the 1910-45 colonial rule were settled under a 1965 treaty.
Speaking to reporters after the session that lasted more than two hours, a ministry official stressed the proposed plan is not the government's final call.
"Today's event was not an occasion to announce the government's final resolution. We regard it as a useful opportunity to accelerate consultations with Japan through the listening of various opinions," the official said.
When asked about the hearing at a regular press briefing in Tokyo, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said he would "refrain from commenting on related reports."
Matsuno, however, highlighted leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed to seek a prompt resolution for pending issues at a summit in November. He added the two countries' diplomatic authorities were continuing consultations.
Source: Yonhap News Agency