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| Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono / Korea Times file |
By Kim Bo-eun
The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan met in Munich, Friday, to discuss recent rulings by the Supreme Court that ordered Japanese companies to compensate Korean victims of forced labor under Japan's 1910-45 occupation of Korea.
The meeting between Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono took place about three weeks after they met last month on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The forced labor rulings are among the thorniest of issues that has bilateral relations in recent months. The Supreme Court ordered two Japanese companies ― Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal (NSSM) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries ― to compensate plaintiffs, but the Japanese government's intervention is obstructing execution. A local court approved a measure to seize the NSSM's assets here last month, after the company refused to comply with the ruling. Plaintiffs of the Mitsubishi case have vowed to begin a process to take the same step next month. The rulings have long-reaching implications for Japan, because the number of Korean victims of forced labor is estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000.
The Japanese government has contended that the issue was resolved by a bilateral deal in 1965. It requested "diplomatic discussions" with Seoul on the matter.
Other issues have added to the strain in ties. National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang in a recent interview called for Japanese Emperor Akihito to apologize for Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women during war. Akihito is the son of Hirohito, who was Japan's monarch during the Japanese occuation.
Tokyo strongly denounced the remarks, with its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling for the speaker to apologize and retract his words. The South Korean government stated the remarks were intended to call for a sincere apology on the matter.
South Korea in November disbanded a foundation that was set up to carry out a disputed deal reached with Japan in December 2015. The issue of sex slaves surfaced again last month, after Kim Bok-dong, a victim and prominent activist, passed away. President Moon Jae-in, who visited Kim's memorial altar, vowed to "set history right" for sex slavery victims.
The ministers also discussed the ongoing process for North Korea to denuclearize, ahead of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be held in Hanoi, Feb. 27 and 28.
