Overturning Past Policy on Forced Labor

President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, announced on Thursday that he would recognize the right of compensation over forced labor under the administration of Japan in the time of World War II. It was a unilateral change of official policy of South Korean government, which had been that the compensation issue was settled. Receiving growing pressure from the people, Moon raised the diplomatic tension against Japan in a sensitive historical issue.

As supplement of scarcity of workforce in the wartime, the government of imperial Japan decided a plan for mobilizing labor in 1939, which supported a policy to mobilize 700 thousand of labor from Korean Peninsula. It was actually a false policy in terms of human rights. When it normalized the relationship with South Korea in 1965, Japan agreed on economic cooperation to South Korea, leaving personal compensation for Korean workers to South Korean government. South Korean government has been taking the same standpoint as Japan.

However, former workers argued that it was unacceptable for them not to have received distribution of money amounting $300 million from South Korean government. In the lawsuits against Japanese companies involved in mobilizing forced labor, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal or Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp, South Korean courts sentenced those Japanese companies to pay further compensation these years. Civil groups built a statue of forced worker in downtown Seoul last week.

In the press conference on the hundredth day from the inauguration, Moon supported the decision of South Korean Supreme Court in 2012 that recognized the right of mobilized workers for compensation for anti-humane illegal activities of Japanese government. “The agreement between the both governments cannot violate personal rights,” told Moon. “The sentence said that private rights still remain. Our government will deal with the issue on that standpoint.”

It is unacceptable for Japanese government that South Korea overturns traditional policy on it. Moon was one of the staffs of former President Roh Moo-hyun, who reconfirmed that $300 million of economic cooperation included compensation for forced workers. The overturning of past official recognition sounds like a populism giving in internal political pressure, which is also seen in other nations such as United States or United Kingdom.

It is likely that the relationship between Japan and South Korea will be further complicated. This is the time that North Korea continues provocation against those two nations with advanced capability of missile and nuclear weapons. Moon needs to have a broad perspective to deal with a sensitive international relation.